A Life is A Life
Installation at SPACES, Cleveland, OH. 2019
Originally commissioned by the 2019 SPACES America’s Well Armed Militia project, I was selected to do research and make a body of work about “firearms in schools.” With the lack of collectable gun violence data prevented by the 1996 NRA lobbied Dickey Amendment, I chose to digress, embody and freeze the moment between the gun holder and victim of gun violence. This intense and visceral display is the silent moment of chaos and ending of a consciousness. “A Life Is A Life” are five pig hearts shot with five common American household guns and splattered on canvases. The hearts are encased in resin and suspended in front of the relative canvas.
“A life is a life” is a quote from NPR interview with 19 year old D’Angelo McDade, executive director of Chicago anti-violence group the Peace Warriors, about his work with student activists from Parkland, Fla. He met with students of the Parkland, Fl shooting and in comparing their experiences, they agreed that “a life is a life.”
As of 2019, the Dickey Amendment was revisited the language was clarified stating that no government funded research on gun “control” is allowed to be published. Meaning the government has reallocated funds for public health research to help prevent gun “violence.” Simple semantics are what prohibited public health research on gun violence for over 20 years.
A Life Is A Life (Zine), 2019.
research before making and what inspired this body of work
“In the most visceral portion of the show, Chicago artist Michelle Graves explores mass shootings in schools. Her work is comprised of five canvases violently splattered with red paint, plus five pig hearts that were shot by the artist with commonly used household guns and encased in rectangular blocks of clear acrylic. Each heart is suspended in front of one of the canvases, creating the illusion of blood spraying from living flesh onto the adjacent surface. It’s a shrill expression of rage about the phenomenon of school shootings, couched in an artistic idiom that put a grisly new twist on Abstract Expressionist painting techniques.”
Litt, Steven. Gun rights explored in provocative ‘Well Armed Militias’ exhibit at Spaces, Sept 15, 2019.
American Roulette traveling exhibit at Epiphany Center for the Arts
Chicago, April - July 2021
With Dominic Sansone, CJ Hungerman, Cesar Conde, and Folleh Shar Francis Tamba
American Roulette traveling exhibit at Core Contemporary
Las Vegas, November 2021 - January 2022
With Dominic Sansone, CJ Hungerman, Cesar Conde, Folleh Shar Francis Tamba, Anthony Guntren and Yousif del Valle
Local artists were invited to exhibit who are listed in the below video.
