http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-half-rich-man-half-poor-man-33066019.html
Fred Wilson’s art brings back old memories. Growing hearing sentences like, “You can’t go to church looking like that!” or even the drier, “Dress properly! Our family did not raise a beggar”, this work rings true. Wilson’s work undeniably shows the crippling attachment that our society has towards projected image. Wealth, wisdom, good character are attributed to those in neat, high end clothes while these qualities lack in those with ragged clothes.
The world embraces shortcuts that quickly place populations of people in simple and defined boxes. No need to understand the complexities of different cultures, communities and countries! The majority set the norms of what is acceptable and everyone else who falls outside those norms is inferior, scary, unworthy. Why bother understanding everyone when the person can be assigned to a box along with everyone else that looks like them? It’s a quick fix…one fueled by endless self-serving, destructive prejudices…but hey, it’s how society works, right?