Unknown; Occupy Wall Street Archives Working Group
Object Type
Signs
Description
Established artists like Shepard Fairey and Martha Colburn produced works in response to the movement, but Occupy also sought to bring art to the 99% and uplift art made by the 99%. Occupy was keenly aware of the power of culture and art to make social change, and the Arts and Culture Working Group worked to organize the creative potential within the movement. They held sign-making gatherings, created puppets and props for actions, painted banners, and hosted a range of performances. This sign for the Arts and Culture Center at Zuccotti gives the message "Art is for your voices" on its back side.
Image Description
On the front side of this brightly colored poster, the letters OWS! are in yellow and they are set on a red background that has purposefully jagged edges reminiscent of a cartoon action bubble. Index cards, that are affixed to the back of the poster, peak out along the bottom edge, as do pieces of tape. On the back side, the poster is stabilized with a piece of cardboard, and there are six index-card sized pieces of paper in pink, green, and purple. The cards read: "This is the Arts and Culture Center," "Help us Stay and Continue/to Express," "Ourselves. Please (underlined) clean up after yourselves," "We must keep clean to be allowed to stay!," "I love you all more than water Art is for your voices!," "Please please put materials back in their proper home!," "Lovely humans with lovely hearts."
Citation
Arts Culture Center sign, circa 2011-2012; TAM.630 Occupy Wall Street Archives Working Group Records; box 18, folder 2; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University