For years I've been returning over and over again to 19th Century labor slogans, possibly because they provide a certain clarity at a moment when everything seems so complicated (even if the clarity is illusory). There is also something extremely powerful about the human hand as a formal device, which has been used so effectively by John Heartfield ("Vote List 5") in 1930s Germany to the millions of images of people holding up two fingers for peace during the 1960s and 70s (and onward). I like the three finger gesture because it's meaning is less immediately clear than an open hand, or the peace sign, or a fist.
Printed at the University of Memphis with help from students and faculty.
