When Workers Toil Unseen, Artists Intervene: On the In/visibility of Labor in the Arabian Gulf States

Abstract

Although the insufficient labor standards in the Arabian Gulf countries are hypervisible, laws have not improved to the benefit of workers. In this article, I examine art practices from Gulf-based artists that address this invisibility by replicating the conditions of the laborer in their artworks, a process I term “total replication.” In contrast to the art historian Schaffer’s argument that art must subvert hierarchies, I show how artworks that replicate work conditions also have the potential to create appreciatory visibilities. I argue that these artworks contain subversive messages in such a way that they become consumable in the context of the Arabian Gulf’s art scene.