Jess X. Snow. Photo by Luna Park.
After we went on hiatus for about 5 months earlier this year, Jess X. Snow helped us bring Art in Ad Places back for the second half of 2020 by guest curating The Genesis of Our Freedom, a series of five posters by five queer artists that included some of our most popular ad takeovers ever. As we prepare close out 2020, we return to Jess’ own work with two pieces that they first made in 2018.
This series celebrates and extends words of hope and healing to survivors of violence. And yes, Art in Ad Places is about removing advertising from public space and questioning why it’s there in the first place, but it is just about leaving messages on the street that are going to connect, uplift, and heal.
The first (above) is a portrait of the artist and uses their own words: “Dear survivor, you are not defined by the violence that happened to you. The earth is not defined by the asteroid that struck it, but by the billion years of life that came after.”
Jess X. Snow. Photo by Luna Park.
The second piece is a portrait of Jaden Fields, co-director of Mirror Memoirs, a national, abolitionist organization intervening in rape culture by uplifting the stories, healing and leadership of Two Spirit, transgender, non-binary, intersex and queer Black, Indigenous and of color survivors of child sexual abuse. Jaden’s words speak to the strength of survivors: “Dear Trans Sibling Survivor, despite how they’ve tried to silence all of our brilliance, we are still here.”
There are few things more powerful than coming across the message you need to receive, unexpectedly, at just the moment that you need to receive it. Snow’s posters create that opportunity.