Ostraca
2020, 2 hours 34 minutes
In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election you could stream live video of the Philadelphia vote counting process. You could watch as dozens of workers claid in safety vests sorted and counted ballots. This low paid or volunteer work is the invisible labor that makes the machinery of US elections work. Ostraca reuses that footage but erases everything except the fluorescent safety vests worn by the workers. This erasure reflects the unseen nature of this work while highlighting the vests, clothing used to call attention to the presence of people in hazardous environments.