Your Coffee Picker
"Your Coffee Picker" is an art piece made from 13,000 coffee beans. Each bean is uniquely roasted, resulting in over 8 different colors that are used to meticulously shape the image of a coffee picker in Brazil. This artwork is a tribute to the underpaid, undocumented workers, including children as young as 13, who harvest the coffee beans that fuel our daily lives.
This compelling piece serves as a stark reminder of the exploitation many coffee pickers face. Despite being aware of their predicament, these workers often feel they have no choice but to continue in the face of rising poverty and limited job opportunities. One picker expressed their despair, saying, "It’s not worth it ... but we are weak, right?"
The artwork further highlights that even major coffee companies such as Starbucks, Nespresso, and Brazil's Nucoffee have been found to use coffee plantations that exploited laborers. This work highlights these harsh realities and provokes thought about the hidden human cost of our daily coffee.