Worn Out Joy
2024 - ongoing
This body of work explores the pursuit of fulfillment and happiness in the late capitalist era, where these ideals are no longer self-determined but increasingly mediated, simulated, or sold back to us as commodified experiences. Through photography, I document the ways individuals attempt to reach for these ideals, stage them for others, or quietly fall short — moments that reveal the absurdities and emotional fatigue of contemporary labor. Drawing on David Graeber’s concept of “bullshit jobs,” I wonder how work drains rather than nourishes us, offering neither meaning nor a sense of hope in a system that equates value with productivity.
Alongside these images, I include photographs of children who are still permitted to wander, concentrate, and get mesmerized by their surroundings. The contrast speaks to what is gradually lost as we conform to roles that strip away curiosity and personal agency. This project serves as an inquiry into our capacity as both consumers and workers. How do we seek meaning when work does not offer much, and the promise of contentment is sold back to us in hollow forms? These photographs hold space for dissonance, while questioning whether fulfillment—or something like it—is still possible under conditions that limit personal agency and potential social advancement.