According to Mr. Adams and his book “The negative” this piece is more than just bad developed. Indeed it needs two stops more and at least -2 development after that. But since it’s impossible to redo it, I must be satisfied with what I got and maybe try to rescue a print later on.

However as I suppose most of you won’t be very fond of this image I’ll try to make clear why I actually like it.

Interpretation on Workingman’s Death

The title already suggests what the main topic of this piece should be and also provides an easy entry into the image itself.
So basically it’s about a worker like most of us. One might complain that he’s standing on scaffolding but he’s wearing a business suit which doesn’t really fit. However in my opinion this translates into that it doesn’t matter what we are working basically we are all just some sort of robots. The work of a construction worker may seem boring to some of us but it’s not so different from the work of a banker. It all follows the same periodic events which may differ from person to person but it’s at last periodic. A further element in the image which supports that idea is the pole in the background which looks like a machine.
The next logical question would be if there are any ways to escape this but before we get to that I just want to mention another part of the image, the scaffolding. It really dominates the image and like in the background it might not always be very visible but in fact it’s here. It restricts us and it has grown around us while we grew up and became what we are now.
But as pointed out earlier it also has some way out namely the “ladders” on each side. One white, one dark; one leads to the light, one out of the image. The two ladders stand for the two possibilities there are when we want to advance but the black one leads out of the image, out of our society maybe into homelessness. On the other hand the white ladder leads to the white light which might be interpreted as our goals, the next step on the job ladder. However it also looks somewhat like an eye, maybe our boss who doesn’t let us move, who watches us that we work like we are supposed to do. But even if we try to advance the ladder to the top sometime it will be finished this could be interpreted as the barriers which are not only given by us but rather by society. So if you are poor it’ll be much harder for you to become a top manager.
So it seems as this image is really very pessimistic. However if you look closely there’s a small bar close to his mouth which leads around the corner. We can’t see what’s behind there, but looking at the pole above his head there’s a bit of light which surrounds the black pole. Hope maybe? Well maybe we have to step around that corner and maybe we even have to use that black pole to get somewhere else. Out of this system but the danger will be persistent that we also get out of this world.
One might ask now what could be behind that corner. Some might say that art could be hiding there but I’m not sure weather I can agree with this maybe to some extend.
Nevertheless it’s important not to end up like him. Not to be trapped, not to resign.
Maybe I’m just too young to give up as I’m in the lucky position to study something I really like. Maybe everything will change in the future.
I hope not.

Thank you for your attention.