A proactive society finds ways to protect itself in the face of state-sponsored violence in times of state-manufactured unrest at a location as near or as far away from you as you can imagine. But what if it didn’t need to?, 2020
Mixed-media installation
Water, milk, Coca Cola, cooking vegetable oil, red onion, lemon, medical mask, rubber gloves, smart phone, medical gauze, rocks, book Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman
Dimensions variable

A proactive society finds ways to protect itself in the face of state-sponsored violence in times of state-manufactured unrest at a location as near or as far away from you as you can imagine. But what if it didn’t need to? is an installation of everyday objects, barring one, that can be easily found and accessible at any grocery store and pharmacy, anywhere in the world. Mundane objects for daily use and consumption become objects of care and protection amidst tear gas attacks instigated by state-sponsored violence. Taken out of their usual context, they become activated and politicized in use and function. In the absence of an image of such violence, the title of this work plays on the 5Ws of journalism, who, what, where, when and why; the why usually being left out of image captions in the news, leaving it to the reader, like the viewer to connect the pieces of the puzzle.