THIS IS NOT A GUN, 2016 - present
For more information on the community wing of this work, please follow link to thisisnotagun.com.
This Is Not A Gun is a multi-part project.
1. A studio-based wood carvings starting in December 2016.
2. A public workshop with many nationwide collaborators. For more information visit thisisnotagun.com
3. A book compiled of essays and illustrations by 40 artists, writers and healers. Published by Sming Sming Press and Candor Press, April 2020. It is the expanded version of the collection of essays by Montez Press. Purchase the book and a special edition cast resin cell phone with proceeds going to Givedirectly.org In response to COVID19. at smingsming.com. ** Watch contributors read from the book here at the Printed Matter Classroom**
STUDIO CARVINGS
In December 2016, I began carving objects mistaken as guns by police officers during shootings of unarmed, mostly POC, civilians. The original list of objects came from a Harper’s Magazine image from that same month. The project has since grown tremendously, all the while, I continue to carve. I intend to complete a carving of each of the 23 objects from the Harpers reporting.
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP SERIES
A sandwich is not a gun. A hairbrush is not a gun. A wallet is not a gun. Since the year 2000, United States police have “mistaken” at least 38 distinct objects as guns during shootings of a majority of young black American men. None of the victims were armed.
This Is Not a Gun engages with the public through community-driven workshops hosted by artists, activists, healers, and mindfulness collaborators. Together, participants shape these mistaken-as-gun objects in clay, giving presence to their form, the human rights violations, and racism prevalent in America today. More at thisisnotagun.com.
This Is Not A Gun
Installation of 300 ceramic objects made at TINAG workshops since 2017.
Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery, Los Angeles, November 2020 - January 2021
BOOK
THIS IS NOT A GUN, 2020
ISBN 978-0-9985006-9-0
2020, English, 5 x 10.5 in, 284 pages, b&w, softcover
Design: Sming Sming Books
Production: Candor Arts
Co-published with Candor Arts!
Foreword by Cara Levine and introduction by Elena Gross. Contributors include Kemi Adeyemi, Jessica Angima, Sampada Aranke, Quenton Baker, Shamell Bell, Gregory Boyle, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Elizabeth Dorbad, Amanda Eicher, Ekaette Ekong, Guillermo Galindo, Faye Gleisser, Sonia Guiñansaca, Angela Hennessy, Constance Hockaday, Jessica Ingram ,Kate Johnson, Chris Johnson, Christopher Johnson, Ann Lewis, Rodney Lucas, Eliza Myrie, Keni Nooner, Kambui Olujimi, sidony o’neal, Candice Price, Kirat Randhawa, Will Rawls, Joshua Ross, Bayeté Ross-Smith, Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle, Jadelynn Stahl, Ashley Stull Meyers, Khadija Tarver, Jade Thacker, Prophet Walker, Leila Weefur, Amir Whitaker, Marvin K. White, and Christine Wong Yap.
Video with contributions by Elizabeth Dorbad, Jessica Angima, Amanda Eicher, Sonia Guiñansaca, Constance Hockaday, Chris Johnson, Eliza Myrie, Keni Nooner, Jadelynn Stahl, Leila Weefur, and Amir Whitaker.
This Is Not a Gun, Cell Phone2020
cast water-based resin
replica of ceramic cell phone made by a high-school participant at Beyond Resistance: California Lobby Day, Sacramento, CA, 2019, in collaboration with the ACLUEdition of 72 x 4 x 1/4 inches
100% Proceeds go to Give Directly in response to COVID19.
Purchase here: https://www.smingsming.com/products/this-is-not-a-gun-cell-phone
