BARE MINIMUM – SCREENPRINTED ZINE

BARE MINIMUM BY RECORD TURNOVER

In this project I use screenprinting as a medium to address displacement as suffering. Displacement is a circumstance of life that affects many of my friends – be they from Syria, Ukraine, Latin America or even the US. There are levels of privilege even in this predicament, but I am disgusted by its infringement on creative work in particular.

Displacement does not denote the same form of movement as migration. Migration has been imbued with such negative meanings that the UN uses wordings like ’people on the move’ instead. Similarly to refugees, which is the term used in contexts of natural disasters and wars, displaced people are moving because they have no other option. They may not be fleeing terror head over heels, but it is not a choice they can go back on.

We know what causes it: extreme rentier capitalism, climate crisis, state terror and occupation of sovereign territory. Driven by hostile governments and stigmatised as immigration. Borders are closing to people due to their skin colour, religion, gender identity or political beliefs. Quoted from the introduction:

I can try to forget for a moment. I can try to love. I can try to make, build and organise in the face of everything that is wrong. But I can’t help but wonder... what difference can hands and hearts make when bodies are starved, left without a roof or bed, deprived of affectionate touch, spat on, deported and locked up? A friend of mine recently reminded me of the strength in optimism, and I’ve always been an optimistic person. I know things will get better, after us.

What Bare Minimum wants, wishes, is not to solve the issue. You can’t kill a fascist with a book. But it can shine a light on all the challenges faced by creatives (especially BIPOC and FLINTA artists) as they try to survive on the scraps. Having nothing shouldn’t be a tenet of artisthood. But the theme of forced asceticism runs through this zine. Having no home, no food and no social life is our everyday. If we had the smallest amount we would trade it in, just to be seen and heard. Getting no love, no friendship and seeing no hope in that ever changing – nevermind the Schumann frequency, the planet is exuding a silent psychic scream for the universe to hear.

This work is inspired by dystopian predictions such as those in Evangelion and Lain, like it’s not even funny. The video you can see in the exhibition is Wheel of Ashes (Peter Emmanuel Goldman, 1968) and the idea for this project materialised while watching it. The finished publication consists of work by highly talented artists from marginalised communities, introduced on the next page. I’d like to thank all of them dearly for participating although all I can offer in return is love and humility. I would also like to extend the deepest of thanks to Lukas and Marit who created .exe and made this project possible by putting in hours work over the past five weeks, and for allowing me to use their print studio by invading their home. The publication is not bound, so the middle section comes out and is a set of posters. That’s why it comes in a sealed bag, like a humanitarian aid kit.