Final Year Project

Eleutheromania

In 1872 Annie Carey wrote ‘Threads of Knowledge’ detailing the origins and manufacturing of everyday items of cloth. It was an attempt to act as a warning to parent and child alike of the dangers of thoughtless consumption. Carey foresaw a future in which humans do not care as to the origin of their belongings. In which the consumer is blind to their impact.

This prediction of modern consumer culture is embedded within current economic systems in which resources are taken, manufactured into products, profited from and disposed of at an unsustainably fast rate using exploitative practices. Eleutheromania addresses the frustration of the individual within a consumer cycle. Of having no choice in one’s reliance or function within the system of their creation, and the mental toll on the individual struggling to reconcile their actions with their feelings.

The Jester’s existence is governed by their purpose – to give – and while it becomes increasingly apparent that the cycle of their life is fundamentally unsustainable, they become ever more aware that they are but a cog in a machine, waking up to a reality outside of their control.