New Demands?
2015-2016

Eight screen prints
Ink on paper
11x17 each

12 risograph prints
Ink on paper
11x17 each

Editions of 10


These 20 prints are based on broadsheets, flyers, posters, newsletters, photographs, publications, educational materials, advertisements, and calls to action produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union between 1890 and 1982.

The original materials were researched and consulted onsite at the Cornell University Kheel Center, which is the the official archival repository for the ILGWU's records.

I photographed the original archival materials, and then recreated them using digital tools and design software like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. I visually recreated the original typography and designs of the archival materials as closely as possible, while acknowledging the passing of time and advances in design and print technologies. I omitted identifying details like dates, times, and places, but kept the original phrasing and language of the time. I also took some interpretive liberties, like altering colors from their originals, or transposing archival materials like placards, banners, and photographs into new print works. This process of reproduction and reinterpretation is meant to evidence temporal shifts between the original events and today, and highlight their contiguousness and disjunction across time.

Photo: Robert Chase Heisman

With thanks to Christine Tarkowski