In What We Work For, artist Sheryl Oring poses the question: “What is the meaning of your labor?” While “labor” is often associated with manual work, Oring invites participants to consider it through a broader, more expansive lens, encompassing vocation, calling, or life’s purpose. This new project was presented for the first time over Labor Day in 2025 at PORCH Fest at PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity, the official U.S. Pavilion exhibition for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, The work gathers perspectives on the value, purpose, and personal meaning of work in the 21st century, building a living archive of voices that speak to both local and global understandings of labor.

Together with Spirit of Independence presented at PORCH Fest over Independence Day, the projects frame a conversation about freedom and work - what we inherit, what we contribute, and what we strive for - through the intimate act of sitting down with the artist on the PORCH, speaking one’s truth, and having it set into words, one keystroke at a time.