Playing with the idea of what is considered “labor” these days, and who does it, this design is directly based on the “I AM A MAN” picket signs birthed during the Memphis Sanitation Workers strikes (1968).
This is the first entirely hand-drawn print I've done in quite awhile. The insides of the lettering were printed with a split-fountain, so there's variation in the individual prints.
These were printed as part of the Justseeds collaborative installation "Uprisings: Images of Labor" at the Union Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, March, 2013. Big thanks to Jesse Purcell, Mazatl, Bec Young and Mary Tremonte for lending many hands pulling prints (with BIG squeegees) and other technical assistance! And special thanks to Thea Gahr for hand modelling...
