This is the work of art i am going to talk about. First, let's figure out what it is. According to this picture, there is a shoe shine box with a brush on the table and a silver panel hanging on the wall. The character 'P.D' should be the name of its owner which vividly shows a picture in our mind: a man or boy named P.D was carrying a shine box and struggling for life on the street.The previous owners of this box were obviously workers who shined shoes for others. From the shabby wood and the dirty brush, we can feel the poverty of the owner and the history of this box.
I was curious about the relationship between polishing shoes and the shiny silver panel on the wall. The word 'shine' has two meanings: one means polishing, the other means appearing brightly. Thus in my opinion, the shiny material indicates the shoes would look more shiny after shining shoes here. However, in author's opinion, because it took 10 cents (one dime) each time for shining shoes and a dime coin is in the colour of silver, so the silver shiny panel means money earned. In similar way, I think I can explain the reason why the box is full of candles. Maybe Ms.Marianne use candle wax to represent the shoe wax, just like using silver panel to represent the silver dime.
Ms.Marianne said she is interested in the ritual of daily routine such as repetitive actions everyday. And this is how she noticed this box. However, I think this peice of art is more of a way to memorize the past. Due to less people shining shoes on the street, this box can record the history. Maybe this art can make the society notice those people who still earn a living on the street.
By the way, the table below is also very interesting. It's just half of what it was originally. It's fixed to the wall with nails.
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