Steph Perez: My Coworkers
This collection of graphic caricatures was honestly an accidental body of work born out of monotony, the eventual embrace of the ordinary, and a whole lot of inappropriate humor.
Since graduating college five years ago, I have worked at the same company as a designer. Day in and day out. 8am to 5pm. 40 hours a week with a melting pot of personalities. And when you spend more time with your coworkers than with your own family, they are bound to become your friends and just maybe even your second family.
In the beginning, these illustrations were special little gifts that my coworkers looked forward to at Christmas. But over time, they transformed into a method of documentation. A chronicle of our wildest conversations, extreme candidness, and at times emotional rawness. The decision to create them in a graphic/cartoon style was to promote a humorous depiction of it and to serve as a vehicle for capturing the unbelievability of some of the comments. They are the office memories made physical.
With three years of notations (that my coworkers were fully aware of and called me a creeper for and continuously joked about), I hope to one day take this body of work and convert it into a graphic novel. A narrative that showcases that there is a beauty in a life that others consider monotonous. That working a full time job while arduous can result in hilarious stories you tell your family and even lifelong friends that can transform your perspective. That “The Office” can be real and a Michael Scott is right around the corner.
