Making YES badges

 

Fiona and I have started making some YES badges to gift top folk and support the YES vote for the referendum this year. The opening photo is of a stash of circles I cut from the pages of images Fiona printed - see below. The Aboriginal art that appears on the badges is from photos of art we own and photos taken by Fiona. 

The photo below is a poor image of one of the badges pinned to Fiona's top - colour coordinated? The finished badge is 32mm in diameter.

A couple more process photos follow.

Fifty badges I finished yesterday - that makes 105 so far. 

Most people seem to like the more colourful badges. I have to get Fiona to print off more sheets for me.

Pendants and the press

 

Yesterday I reprinted a couple of my patriarchy posters to correct apostrophe mistakes; and today I made buffalo horn pendants as our Square was telling me I was low on stock. 

A couple of the black buffalo horn pendants are in the photo above; and a few process photos follow. Most of the toggles on the pendants are made from feet and handles from trays and sugar bowls.

The reprinted patriarchy posters are below.

I couldn't resist printing a few tea towels as well - they looked good drying on the grass in the sun.

All in all a productive weekend.

Poster shop and back at the press

 

The pop-up poster shop at the Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne went really well - lots of opportunities to talk to folk about the issues as well as selling posters and tea-towels. A really big thank-you to Maus and the Our Community family for supporting us and enabling the shop to happen. A few photos of the setting up. Fiona and Sheila were the driving force behind it all.

It was back into Deckled Edge Press for me on Thursday and given we were heading out to a DV event that evening and after the many issues raised at the conference I felt driven to print this A5 poster; and some bookmarks with the offcuts.

Yes we need to believe women when they report violence, assault and coercive control.

Preparation for pop-up poster shop

 

Fiona and I are getting our stuff together for a pop-up poster shop at the Communities in Control Conference. A significant focus of the conference will be on inequality, injustice to and violence against women and the systems that support the status-quo.

On sale will be many of Fiona's feminist, justice and DV related posters; and my posters on patriarchy.

One appalling stat that is put out by the United Nations is that one in three women and girls will experience violence during their lives. This new A5  poster of mine above reflects this totally abhorrent and unacceptable behaviour.

And while I'm on stats - it just staggers me that in Australia every 2 minutes a woman is desperate enough to take the risk to ring the police to report DV - and yet we still don't take this matter seriously enough to stamp it out.

The third poster in this series simply asks "why won't he stop (being violent)?" - simple answer - that would mean he would have to accept the woman as his equal and give up power and control.  

Starting and finishing

 

Another of those weekends where Fiona and I were jumping between the studio, workshop and community activities.

Today I managed to start the three post installation I have been commissioned to do. Getting the timber in out of the rain, dried and cut to length means next week I can start working into and on the posts. All the lengths were cut using a hand saw. The timber is about 180mm-200mm square hardwood.

I also managed to print the last poster in my series of 9 patriarchy posters.  Fittingly I finished with the wording " patriarchy passed it's use-by date"  - it certainly has - though a lot of men are very unlikely to recognise that. I did the last poster in black to balance the total red one I did regarding  breeds bullies. Below are the 9 A3 landscape posters laid out on the studio tables - not necessarily in the final sequence.

I will also select - with Fiona's assistance - five sets; and then will label them and pack them as 5 numbered limited editions of 9 posters.

Two Domestic Posters (aka tea towels) were also printed.

Uninvited hands

 

I was given the suggestion for this poster. The original suggested words were "patriarchy the uninvited laying on of hands"- but there were too many words for the poster. It had a connection to a media release during the event; but it also had links it to churches; and it definitely reflected the fact that many women are subjected to uninvited touches and comments by men who seem to think it is ok and in fact their right - but then again that is patriarchy right???

The layered image above was deliberate - layers and layers of subtle patriarchy and layers and layers of uninvited handling.

I took a photo of where I'm up to in the series - only one to go after this current poster if I'm happy with the 3X3 grid.

I feel this poster has a strong message.

And of course there are a couple of Domestic Posters (aka tea-towels) - a little more subtle ink on the weave.

You might have noticed that the second I in 'uninvited' has a nick out of the bottom - it is in fact an upside-down 1 - one of the limitations of sets of wood type and the need for a little creativity.

Reflecting on a challenging week

 

The past week has made me somewhat angry given the tragic and preventable deaths of a woman and then a young baby - both victims of male violence against women. The image below might be a bit challenging for some - rubine red ink on the glass plate. I chose red for the word avenges because it references the murder of women.

The events lead me to investigate the links between the patriarchal system and violence against women. The European Institute for Gender Equality says,"patriarchal violence is any kind of violence that creates or maintains men's power and dominance, or avenges the loss of their power." I thought that the last part of the statements what lies behind the murder of women and children by men in domestic violence situations - an ultimate act of control and power.

The poster I have printed is a refection of this horrendous and extreme expression of patriarchy. This is my seventh poster in this patriarchy series.

Patriarchy poster on the drying table with some of Fiona's posters

Over printing on A4 paper to take the ink off the type - I might find a role for them down the track