Flags, Placards, and Illicit Climbers of the Capitol Insurrection (January 6, 2021)
North Carolina: Wobble Press, 2022. Edition of 20 + 3 AP. Edition available October 2023
9″ x 11.5″ x 1.25″; 72 pages. Pigment prints on Moab Entrada Rag Bright 190 gm coated with Moab Desert Spray. Archival painting of page edges. Custom hardcover case binding with rounded spine, foil stamping on front, back, spine, and interior. Custom clamshell with tunnel component and foil stamping on front, back and spine. Signed and numbered by the artist.
Flags, Placards, and Illicit Climbers of the Capitol Insurrection (January 6, 2021) is a 72-page artist’s book based on hours of January 6th footage scoured for images of rioters scaling walls to flank security on the Capitol Grounds. Context is provided with a thorough survey of the flags and placards carried by participants shedding light on their affiliations, motivations, and ideologies, including those aligned with far-right extremist movements and individuals with conspiratorial views of the election. Examples extracted from the flood of imagery offer sociological insights into the violent insurgency including sign-making aesthetics, physical gestures, and fashion preferences.
The book design is influenced by brochures found at historical sites, presenting accessible nuggets of complex information distilled from primary documentation, inviting viewers to discover and investigate for themselves. A critical contribution to this project comes from the open-source intelligence community, who organized extensive amounts of January 6th footage on websites to assist the FBI with crowdsourcing the identification of perpetrators for prosecution. This project acknowledges the importance of archival work and the power of open-source intelligence to uncover facts.
Link to video presentation of this book in the collection of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Bank Tellers of America versus The Aryan Republican Army (1992-1996)
Custom hardcover case binding with hinged foldout front and back covers using inlaid magnets. Custom slipcase with inlaid label.
8.75” x 10.25” x 1.25” closed, 72 pages
Signed and numbered by the artist.
Pigment prints on Moab Entrada Rag Bright 190 gm
Edition: 2 Artist’s Proofs and an edition of 15
2021
The Aryan Republican Army (ARA) committed 22 armed bank robberies in the Midwest from November 11, 1992 to December 19, 1995. The objectives of its leaders were to raise funds for the white supremacist movement and overthrow the U.S. government. The ARA was part of the broader movement of white supremacist terrorism that weaves its presence through American history to the present. Since 2019, the Department of Homeland Security and FBI began to officially acknowledge that white supremacists are the top domestic terrorism threat.
By transforming text from FBI documents into images, this book displays the connections between white supremacist ideology, access to armaments, and violent intent. Visualizations of the case against the ARA are accurately based on items accumulated by the FBI as evidence. Bank tellers terrorized by the ARA were instrumental in breaking the case. It was ultimately the bank tellers that identified the gunmen and testified against them in court resulting in successful convictions and destruction of the organization.
Identification of Cars Participating in Klan Rally at Montgomery Alabama, March 21, 1965
Accordion book, hard cover with doublures, foil stamped cover
Digital print on Canson Edition Rag 310gm
12.5” x 23” x 1” closed, 19 panels, extends out to 230”
Custom Clamshell
Edition: 2 Artist Proofs, 1 Handling Copy and an Edition of 15 (printed on demand)
2017
This work reconstructs a KKK motorcade that the FBI linked to the murder of the civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo on March 25, 1965. The car that carried Liuzzo’s killers participated in a 92-car motorcade organized by the United Clans of America, Inc. that traveled through Montgomery on March 21. Auto classifieds were used to find photographs corresponding to each specific description (year, make, model and color) of the KKK affiliated vehicles identified in FBI documents. Google Map was used to create a panoramic retracing of the parade route. Another aspect of the case of Viola Liuzzo explored in the piece was the attempted sale of the vehicle that Viola Liuzzo was killed in as a “Business Opportunity” to draw crowds. The original classified advertisement was found on microfiche and collaged into the work. This book was created with the assistance of a Puffin Grant.
Link to video exploration of this book in the collection of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
Auto Record: GreenKil
Accordion Booklet
Offset printed
20 pages, 10 panels
5” x 8.5”, extends out to 50”
Edition of 800
2013
Auto Record is an earnest attempt to digest thousands of pages of unclassified documents created by the FBI in relation to the controversial incident in North Carolina on November 3rd, 1979, commonly known as the Greensboro Massacre. The accordion book format is used to visualize two processions of vehicles involved in the incident (one side of the booklet is the KKK and associates caravan, while the other depicts vehicles connected to the Communist Workers Party). Information provided includes weapons retrieved from the incident, a schematic of the bullet holes in the Channel 12 news car, and FBI summaries of the 5 individuals killed on that day. Information and imagery is all accurately based on or directly collaged from primary documents.