Stand up!A few weeks ago my social media was flooded with angry memes over the abortion bans. I heard about a nation wide rally against the current attack on women’s rights and posted about it on social media. I went to our local Santa Cruz rally against the bans and I noticed about 70-80% older ladies and not many young folks. I started to wonder if people think they are actually making a difference by sharing memes and writing their opinions online? Sitting behind computers and posting about it will only generate a certain audience, your “friends”. A lot of older women remember the days of back alley abortions and were telling stories that they were one of the first to have a legal abortion. At the rally they were there shouting “We will not go back!” I lot of younger women today think that we are liberated and all these rights have always been giving to us but this is not true. Women were only able to vote 100 years ago and the first legal abortions happened 1974. I feel that this generation thinks that posting online will do something. If you look at historical revolutionary moments, change happens when people show up in mass numbers on the streets and in the voting booths. Take inspiration from the memes but now is the time to stand up against the injustices in the world. The memes are wheat pasted on the wall like traditional posters have been in the past. The words done in lipstick are from Dr. Cornel West speaking on campus about social movements where at one point he says “Stand up! You’ve been sitting way too long, STAND UP!” Spring 2019 Printed memes, homemade wheat paste, lipstick |
This project was about occupying space and intervening with the norm. “Pop Up Lounge Piece” was featured in downtown Santa Cruz, California. This was a comment on the lack of free public spaces for people. The design of our downtown is to get people to move quickly from one place to the next and a person is only valuable if you purchase something, only then you are allowed to lounge there. Even the benches on the street are designed to be uncomfortable. I brought in a couch, rug and lamp to the streets (with some help from my roommates) to create an environment that got people to slow down, relax and talk to one another. This piece was a rebellious act against consumer capitalist society. We sparked up some really good comments from the public and engaged with some new faces. I made it a over an hour before the cops intervened. |