An East German garment worker sits in front of a whirring factory machine, rushing to knit a tube sock against the device programmed to take her job. She has a staunch presence; with a forced frown, her arms and hands move steadily, rhythmically, despite the fact she knows she\u2019ll fail.<\/p>\n
She always does.<\/p>\n
She says she draws inspiration from John Henry, the 19th-century folktale character whose livelihood as a railroad steel-driver is threatened by a steam-powered drill. Henry races the machine to prove the value of his labor and wins; only to die from the effort.<\/p>\n
The garment worker, who does not die, is Frau Fiber; Long Beach-based artist Carole Frances Lung\u2019s alter ego, who she fondly calls a “textile superhero.”\u00a0Her John Henry-inspired performance piece dredges up a well-known reality, that inventions designed to make our lives easier ultimately outsource our labor while making our existence expendable, and it\u2019s just one of the ways Lung has spent the latter half of her artistic career teaching communities about the damaging effects of contemporary apparel manufacturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why I call it art is because ultimately it all kind of fails,\u201d Lung said. \u201cThe difference between being a business and being an artist is that kind of failure. And having it be an art practice that\u2019s supported by other things[…] allows me to play with how we present the economy of purchase.\u201d<\/p>\n