You Are Merely A Number

latex on found object and ticket dispenser

18 × 18 inches

You Are Merely A Number examines the growing tension between technological advancement and human value. Presented as a functioning ticket dispenser, the work invites viewers to participate in a familiar act: pulling a number and waiting their turn. What appears to be an ordinary gesture becomes a reflection on a society increasingly shaped by automation, algorithms, and systems designed for efficiency rather than empathy.

The dispenser serves as a metaphor for modern life, where individuals are routinely transformed into data points, customer IDs, employee numbers, performance metrics, social profiles, and predictive analytics. As institutions embrace automation in pursuit of speed and productivity, human complexity is often flattened into measurable categories. Individual stories, struggles, and aspirations become secondary to what can be quantified, processed, and optimized.

The monochromatic red surface creates a sense of urgency, functioning both as an alarm and a warning. It suggests a future in which convenience and technological progress are celebrated while the human consequences remain largely unexamined. The patriotic imagery embedded within the piece points to the broader cultural systems that increasingly rely on automation to make decisions that once required human judgment, compassion, and accountability.

The ticket itself becomes a symbolic exchange. The moment it is pulled, identity is surrendered to sequence. The individual is no longer recognized by name, character, or lived experience, but by a number assigned within a larger system.

Rather than rejecting technology, You Are Merely A Number questions the values embedded within it. The work asks viewers to consider what is lost when efficiency becomes the primary measure of success. In a world where machines can process information at extraordinary speed, the piece challenges us to preserve the qualities that cannot be automated—empathy, dignity, imagination, and our shared humanity.

Ultimately, the work serves as a reminder that while systems may assign us numbers, our value has never been numerical.

You Are Merely A Number is now on exhibition at the Lawndale Art Center for the BIG Show juried by Valerie Cassel Oliver from June 12 through August 15, 2026.