ART WORK
Left: A General Strike Is Proclaimed
Right: Shirt Waist Makers We Should Make the Laws
Pages from New Demands? Part II in Counter Signals 4, 2021
A General Strike Is Proclaimed is a digital re-creation of a broadsheet calling on cloak makers, shirt makers and pressers to join a general strike organized by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in Philadelphia on September 8, 1914 at 6pm. Published in English, Italian, and Yiddish language editions, the broadsheet attests to the large numbers of Italian and Jewish immigrant workers in the garment industry in the early 20th century. This work was originally produced as a risograph print in 2015.
Shirt Waist Makers We Should Make the Laws is a digital re-creation of a textile banner carried by immigrant women garment workers in the early 20th century. The exact date and place are unknown but it is possible that the photograph was taken during the The New York shirtwaist strike of 1909-1910 (also known as the Uprising of the 20,000), a strike involving approximately 20,000 immigrant women working in New York shirtwaist factories. The photo is in the official ILGWU archives at the Kheel Center, Cornell University. This work was originally produced as a screen print in 2015.
Download the full essay at: lvinebaum.com/pdfs.html