This artwork, created by Aj Roi in 2024 for his first solo exhibition ("NOT A WONDERFUL WORLD"), is the first (along with "VIETNAM WAR," created around the same time) to consist of two signs instead of one.
In this case, the artist did not intervene pictorially (as is his custom), but rather connected the two signs ("path reserved for pack animals or saddle animals" and "pedestrians prohibited"), creating an extremely simple yet powerful representation.


The sad scene shows a white man -on his horse- dragging a black slave with a chain around his neck.


With this work, Aj Roi wants us to reflect on the injustice of slavery.
The image harks back to the sad chapter in history in which Africans were brought to work in the American colonies; however, the artist intends to make us reflect on the fact that even today, slavery is far from extinct. Just think of all the workers in the Third World who work inhumane hours, earning just enough to feed themselves, yet too little to allow them to move forward and leave their jobs.


To further emphasize the difference between the comfortable condition of the slaveholder and the toil and abuse suffered by the slave, Aj left the first on intact, while scratched and hit the other, thus giving him a "dirty" and "distressed" appearance.