36″ x 36″ | Cut and folded pages from Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Weber articulates a connection between religious motivations and economics and describes the Protestant work ethic as the precursor to Capitalism. Prosperity, like salvation, can be seen as a correlation between intelligence, confidence, dedication, hard work and investment–available to everyone. The silhouettes in this work are from photos of regular people, taken surreptitiously, in and around Pittsburgh. Juxtaposed against the text of Weber’s book, I wonder if the “work ethic” and the “spirit of capitalism” are still paths to prosperity and virtue–available to everyone.

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