ARTIST STATEMENT
Grades, money, fame... We chase versions of ‘success’ throughout life to outcompete others. Our pursuit of materialistic success and obsession with productivity sacrifices health for the intangible. Contemporary grind culture indoctrinates individuals into believing hard work unequivocally breeds success within society’s inescapable rat race. 内卷(neijuan — translated as ‘inward curling’) is used to describe the faltering pressures of grind culture affecting Chinese youths. Grind Away displays containers constrained within the pedestal-propped shredding system — destined to vanish within mountains of destroyed assessments. Ultimately, Grind Away invites the audience to reconsider views of success through a contemporary and cultural lens.
ARTWORK PROCESS
Inspired by the demanding workload Chinese students endure for 12 years to prepare for their university entrance exams and the toxic ‘996’ work culture they experience after graduating, I created a work that critiques our glorification of materialistic success and obsession with productivity. I began by filling containers with miniature sculptures such as lucky stars, exam papers and office supplies to symbolise an individual’s cumulative life experiences. To delve into the collective desire to escape the grind, I invited students to destroy their past assessments using the paper shredder; a criminal act within an otherwise success-centric school environment.
