[Charcoal/graphite/ink/acrylic on paper, receipt, photos, software sketch, video, 2020]
Made during involvement with the UCSC wildcat strike, these drawings use an aesthetic motif taken from images of protest. Specifically, they make use of the backs of protest signs that I helped to construct.
For me, these works introduce different ways to think about labor, political struggle, and the semiotics associated with them both, as well as questions about the relations between the individual and the collective.
The sign (as in symbol) from the backs of the signs (as in things to hold) also moved through people, places, and media. Its ebb and flow, appearance and disappearance, led to working with the motif in multiplicities and gestures in the digital space.
The video work takes news footage where the sign appeared to investigate its residue in a time based medium to see what might emerge.
Video excerpt