Pepper Delivery 

Stanley Artgerm Lau made this digital illustration titled "Pepper Delivery" sometime in the 20th or 21st century. The style is reminiscent of Japanese manga art. This artwork presents a vision of the future, with the focus on transportation and delivery. We see a female figure, scantily clad in white and red garments, confidently astride a futuristic vehicle. The backdrop is an urban setting, suggesting a society that values technological advancement, speed and efficiency. But what does it say about labor? The overt sexualization of the character certainly reflects familiar and longstanding tropes in commercial imagery. To fully understand this work, it would be interesting to see the original commission brief. What was the precise market that the artist sought to capture? What did he want to say about the way that institutions of art and commerce shape our understanding of gender and technology? These are some of the questions that inform social histories of art.