Opposite of a weapon

Drawing / Ceramic Sculpture / Screen Print, 2018-ongoing
Nearly 40,000 people died from gun violence in 2018, yet imagery of guns, weapons, and violent acts pervade our media, sociocultural psyche, and our bodies. How can we shift our culture towards an iconography of non-violence? What is the opposite of a weapon? I asked people at gun shows, asked children and older folks; asked people across the political spectrum. My goal: how to have a conversation with people with whom we might not necessarily agree. This practice has resulted in drawings, prints, sculptures, merchandise, a risograph edition of original coloring books in collaboration with poet Naomi Shihab Nye, as well as tattoo designs.

This work exhibited April 2018 at Anderson Ranch Arts Center curated by Lauren Fulton, at NoNRA, a pop-up exhibition in Dallas, TX during the 2018 NRA Convention, at Sotheby’s Institute in 2019, and as part of Detroit Art Week: Young Curators New Ideas V in 2019 with curator Amanda McDonald Crowley.

Screen Print: 40" x 36", Drawings: 11" x 14" , Ceramic Sculptures: 4" tall