Spent
This is essentially a rip-off of "9mm Ecstasy," but with
a completely different objective. This image sums up my frustration with being unemployed
in a cold and unforgiving job market. I tried using the empty gun as a visual metaphor
for emptiness, hopelessness, exhaustion, uselessness, futility, and vulnerability. Having
spent her clip, our subject is alone and helpless. Technology has betrayed her, leaving
her with a tool that has outlived its usefulness (not unlike my own predicament as a displaced
software engineer). Quite a departure from my usual themes of female empowerment, but
an excellent opportunity to explore other emotions within the girls with guns genre.
(pencil - March 4, 2002)