Freedom of the Pressesis a textbook and a toolbox for using artists’ books and creative publications to further community engagement and social justice projects. The book aims to expand and enhance scholarship about creative book-making, reflective of and relevant to the diverse global community of makers and readers. Freedom of the Presses features commentary and images from contemporary artists and scholars.
with essays by: Kurt Allerslev:: Tia Blassingame :: Stephen Dupont :: Karen Eliot ::Bridget Elmer ::Fly::Ganzeer:: Sarah Kirk Hanley :: Richard Lee :: Florencia San Martin :: Mobile Print Power ::Janelle Rebel ::Aaron Sinift :: Suzy Taraba :: Deborah Ultan ::Marshall Weber ::Anton Wurth :: Xu Bing
Since I started making art seriously again in 2018, I’ve mostly focused on the simple, colorful, domestic subjects that brought me joy in a very dark time in my life. I was housebound, often bed bound, and my life felt like nothing but pain. So I painted cheerful things, both as a form of escapism & as a reminder to appreciate the little joys in life. In 2021, I started to change direction, delving in to self portraiture and queer figure drawing. But I’ve felt torn between the family-friendly, kidlit-type style that I had been working in, and the weird, dark, queer experience I’m having inside my head. The truth is, I’m full of rage & sorrow. With nowhere to express it, it bottles up and comes out when its least helpful. In many ways, I am not a fighter. I am too reactive, too sensitive, and as a neurodivergent person, I need to “center myself” a lot more than is helpful in this kind of work. But it many ways, I am a fighter. I have fought for my health - for diagnosis and treatment, for accessibility tools, for services, and support. I speak out whenever I can, including when it’s impolite.
But how can I fight without burning myself out? The answer, I think, is to fight a different way. I am not just a ball or rage and pain, I am also an artist. And it’s time for my art to reflect these conflicts in my head, to transform them into something others can relate to, something we can all use to heal.
a series of multiple 5x7 watercolor n ink political posters about leftism and collectivism. these ideas and these messages are the small ways we can make the space and energy around us a more inclusive one, a more comfortable one, a healthier/safer/better one.
“The earth is not dying. It is being killed. And those who are killing it have names and addresses.”-Utah Phillips (1935-2008) folk singer, labor organizer, trainhopper, poet, and ardent anarchist. ID in alt text.
[plain text: “The earth is not dying. It is being killed. And those who are killing it have names and addresses.” -Utah Phillips (1935-2008) folk singer, labor organizer, trainhopper, poet, and ardent anarchist. ID in alt text. end pt]
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