Exist&Resist (2016)
$22.00
Institutional pricing (libraries, universities, for use on tv/movies etc). Contact us for invoicing or custom listing: $66
Melanie Cervantes
12 x 12 inches
1-color, Handmade Screen Print on various paper
Open Edition
Printed in San Leandro, 2016
Printed in my kitchen, San Leandro
The shirts emblazoned with lists, ampersands and text in Helvetica (and sometimes other fonts) are ubiquitous. In 2001 an Amsterdam design studio designed a t-shirt with the first names of the members of the Beatles for a Japanese t-shirt label and much like memes the design strategy spread like wildfire with most people relatively unaware of the origins of the style. I decided I wanted to put my own spin on the trend by grouping together four words that I felt could be shorthand for an indigenous perspective, identity and politic. It was initially a playful meme I quickly typed up and my computer and overtime due to the overwhelming response of communities evolved into multiple formats of art. My initial statement that accompanied the graphic was short and a bit tongue-in-cheek:
Because sometimes I have to add my own flavor to popular trends.
#helvetica&
#decolonize
#indigenize
#resist
#exist
