Dear Survivors: Messages of Hope and Healing From Jess X. Snow

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.

No Matter How Long it Takes, Question Authority

Fred Harper. Photo by Luna Park.

It’s been just over four years since Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the singing of the National Anthem at an NFL game, in protest of police brutality and racism. Kaepernick was effectively booted out of the league, and large swaths of America considered him persona non grata. Even with the NFL recently apologizing for how they treated players who knelt for the anthem, even with this year’s increasing support in the country for the Black Lives Matter movement, Kaepernick still hasn’t been signed back to a team. Our latest installation, by illustrator Fred Harper, celebrates Kaepernick’s principled strength and conviction in the face of public, financial, and political pressure to “shut up and play.”

Fred told us:

I first saw Colin Kaepernick kneeling to protest respectfully when it made the news in 2016. I was and still am a Steelers fan so I wasn't aware of him or his issues until it was a news story. His statement about his reasons for his simple act of protest were valid to me. The backlash of the ignorant and the bigotry was so offensive to me that I had to make some sort of image in solidarity. In talking with friends it was pointed out that it was like going up against the Roman Empire. I borrowed from a classic painting by Jean-Leon Gerome, of a gladiator waiting for the signal from the emperor for the thumb's up or down. Life or death. Kaepernick is the subject of the mob, the public, the "emperor". He is questioning authority. Authority always needs to be made accountable no matter the scale. It should always be trying to earn our respect.

Fred Harper. Photo by Luna Park.

A Rebellious Mourning

Black Trans Lives Matter by Ethan X. Parker and BreakOUT!. Photo by Luna Park.

This coming Friday, on November 20th, the world will observe the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance / Trans Day of Resilience. The day of remembrance is an important occasion that “honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence,” and the thread of resilience “is an annual love offering to trans people of color.”

We are marking the occasion with a series of ad takeovers by three trans artists of color, posters that celebrate the transgender community. Guest curator Micah Bazant, with Trans Day of Resilience art project of Forward Together, has brought together work from Colin Laurel, Ethan X. Parker (with BreakOUT!), and Art Twink (with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement). This series is, borrowing from the Trans Day of Resilience art project’s own description, both “a rebellious mourning” and an attempt to “shape an irresistible future.”

Colin Laurel. Photo by Luna Park.

From Colin Laurel:

Our dreams burn brightest when we’re young. Growing up trans, I dreamt of finding true acceptance and self-love; I asked questions about myself to which there were few clear answers. I created this piece to express joy and liberation among queer and questioning youth of color — to depict a world where they have the resources to live their fullest lives.

From Art Twink:

Art is at the heart of resistance. It is what binds us together, motivates us to change, and helps us to understand one another. It is a medium for our anger as well as our joy that we use to dismantle systems of oppression. What Art in Ad Places does is reclaim space stolen by capitalism to bring back love and beauty to public spaces. I hope this project continues to bring people joy and a sense of safety and community.

Dandelions and Butterflies by Art Twink and Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement. Photo by Luna Park.

And from Ethan X. Parker:

Advertising is everywhere. We’re told what to eat, how to dress, who to support, and where to invest our most precious resources. And it’s for that last reason that I chose to participate in this project. We, as a Black trans community — especially during this administration, are in peril. Our lives and livelihoods are in danger, and it becomes increasingly more obvious as we form a more interconnected way of sharing our Black trans experiences. For me, our legacies are more than hashtags. As folks board their trains and shuffle onto busses, I want to remind them of that. I want to remind folks that Black trans lives always matter whether our deaths are trending, whether our content is streaming, whether our thought leaders are organizing. So enjoy your commute. Sing, thrive, enchant, and flourish! And extend the same zeal for life to Black trans folks as well.

At a moment when a lot of liberal Americans, but especially liberal white Americans, are breathing a sigh of relief, it is essential to remember that A. Black people got Biden elected, and B. there is still so much work to do. Perhaps, now that we are about to have someone in the White House that says they will listen, more work than before.

The curator and all of the artists involved in this series express the complexities of this moment (and the necessary striving for better) so well, and Art in Ad Places is honored to be amplifying their voices on the street. 🌹

DOPE's Defiant Memorial to David Graeber

Marco Bevilacqua and Ot Pascoe for DOPE. Photo by Luna Park.

Last month, the global activist community was rocked by the passing of writer and anthropologist David Graeber. In popular media, David was probably best-known for exploring the modern phenomenon of bullshit jobs, or for coining the term “the 99 percent.” He was a writer and an academic, but also an activist, a firm believer in direct action, and (by all accounts) a wonderful person. Our friend Molly Crabapple’s tribute in The New York Review of Books says more.

In the wake of David’s passing, the wonderful folks at Dog Section Press’ DOPE Magazine reached out with an idea: Would we like to celebrate his legacy by getting our hands a bit dirty? Scottish designers Marco Bevilacqua and Ot Pascoe designed a poster, and it’s been popping up in bus shelters and payphones in the United States and Europe. Of course, we got on board.

Marco told us, “David Graeber was a huge inspiration to many. His pioneering writing and views on the world and capitalism were insightful, provoking, and witty. A true radical amongst his peers. When I was asked to draw him for DOPE Magazine and Art In Ad Places, I thought it would be a fantastic way to honour David’s legacy and take his message back to the streets. Personally, I love subvertising and everything it stands for in helping to fight against the constant barrage of toxic and degrading messages, showing people instead that art can do so much more than how it is generally commercially used. I hope this poster inspires and also pays tribute to the big man.”

Marco and Ot selected the perfect quote of David’s for this particular sort of memorial: “Direct action is, ultimately, the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free.” Is there a better way to sum up the logic of ad takeovers? The poster certainly captures David’s spirit, and, to echo Marco, we hope that the method of installation does as well.

Life Is Fragile, Let's Vote Him Out

It’s been quite a week. On Friday, the United States set a grim milestone: 85,000 COVID-19 cases reported in one day, a new record for the country. On Saturday, New York state got to work: Early voting has begun, 93,000 New York City voters set their own record by showing up in person on day one. On Sunday, we installed a pair of ad takeovers that touch on both topics.

Addam Yekutieli (Know Hope) and John Fekner collaborated to reimagine the iconic FRAGILE packing label for 2020, and John Fekner’s solo work is… well I guess you could say it’s a test that we are all expected to pass.

Addam Yekutieli (Know Hope) and John Fekner. Photo by Luna Park.

Yekutieli has been on our wish list as someone to work with since before Art in Ad Places launched, and he has the story on how this collaboration came about:

A while back, John found a 'Fragile' packing/shipping sticker and suggested that we collaborate on something using that as the base of the piece. At a certain point John sent me this version of the sticker where he reworked the letters on one of the stickers to spell out 'Life'. I thought that the image of a severed tree trunk was fitting as an analogy to and a reminder of fragility of Life, especially poignant in light of mismanagement of the health crisis in Trump's America and Netanyahu's Israel. I feel that the image conveys fragility in all forms of Life, also that of nature, with the virus and the recent wildfires showing us that it has the upper hand. Forceful things need to be handled with care as well.

I'm participating in this project in order to be part of this ongoing action of reclaiming public space by replacing advertisements with opportunities to reflect on our shared environments, our place within them and the act of being able to take part in shaping our collective reality. We're so used to advertisements being a natural part of our visual periphery, and there's something powerful about creating glitches in this dynamic.

- Addam Yekutieli (Know Hope)

And then there’s Fekner on his own with his classic stencil-style text approach. A longtime inspiration to the Art in Ad Places team, and we first worked with Fekner back in 2017 when we recreated one of his iconic works from 1980. This time, he is back with a very 2020 poster and a simple message: “VOTE.”

John Fekner. Photo by Luna Park.