‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS PEDESTRIAN STREET SIGNS: RESEARCHTRACK 4: M

‘THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL’ - NINE INCH NAILS 

PEDESTRIAN STREET SIGNS: RESEARCH

TRACK 4: MARCH OF THE PIGS

‘March Of The Pigs’, the lead single from ‘The Downward Spiral’, deals with the protagonists relationship with people and their self-serving, disposable nature. The image of the pig is once again used, however this time we are looking at society as a whole. 

I became fascinated with signage, particularly pedestrian street signs whereby figures are used. I find it interesting how people engage with these signs and how we read them, interpret them, and extract meaning from them. They are meant to have a singular universal meaning, with the purpose of directing us, and even in a sense, control us. 

While most pedestrian street signs are instinctual to us at this point, a new language has been presented to us in the past year by means of Covid Health Advice signage. These have become controversial at times, as the sudden appearance of them has provoked mixed reactions and opinions as to whether or not they should be enforced. While most people are happy to oblige and follow directions that are thought to be in our best interest, others see them as a violation of their human rights and a step in the direction of THX 1138or 1984territory. 

I would like to work a design like this into my artwork for March Of The Pigs, using a simple, stripped back icon of a pig in place of a human.