"Butter Knife Wind Chime" to Support Georgia Muslim Voter Project
Butter Knife Wind Chime was the first project I created after T***p took office again in 2024. The show combined objects from two of my favorite collections: Grassroots activist ephemera and homemade/ hand repaired tools.
Do good. Be weird. Let's show these ghouls to the door.
Butter Knife Wind Chime
In the early days of the Apocalypse, knowing how to engage with the past is a tricky bit of business. Everyone seems to have the same question on their mind: How in the hell did we end up here? Everyone’s got their own answer too; unsurprisingly they tend to follow ideological lines.
As usual, racists, fascists, and unimaginative assholes of-all-kind have no problem making their thoughts known. Their goal is to unwind the clock with a gruesome blend of personal regression and unlearning. Backward seems far too generous of a word.
The Tech Bros have their own take as well... Purposefully accelerating things to the point where the past seems further away than it really is. There’s money to be made in decontextualizing history, and much of it comes from presenting yesterday’s shit as tomorrow’s gold. Add in the constant refrain of how “unprecedented” everything is, and it becomes very easy to feel completely and utterly alone.
It’s why I felt compelled to share this ephemera.
Peace Camp For Survival, Flyer, Vancouver BC 1983 w/ Spade with PVC Handle; David Undressed, Press Photo, Montevideo UR, w/ homemade pencil holder; Keep Abortion Safe and Legal, Matchbook, Cincinnati OH; MOUNTAINDALE, Silkscreened Poster, Mountaindale NY 1970 w/ Deer Antler Handle Hatchet; AIDS Dance-A-Thon, Flyer, New York City 1995 w/ Long Handled Brush
For those of us still protecting whatever is left of our hearts (no matter how broken,) it’s essential to be reminded of the reality facing the folks who came before us. To see our struggles reflected in theirs. Many of the challenges that define our current moment: A collapsing healthcare system, vast economic disparity, militarized police forces, and power hungry lunatics reaching the highest level of government are all nothing new. Just listen to any of the people who made the stuff on these walls.
What the flyers and photos definitively prove is that we’re not isolated in our desire to make the world a more just place. Each piece is of a very specific time and place, but they’re unified by the genuinely hopeful belief in possibility. The belief that things can change even in the face of seemingly insurmountable forces pushing back against you. That amid fear, confusion and desperation the most appropriate response is to gather your friends, remind each other that there is work to be done, and then dance the motherfuckin’ night away. Zoom out far enough on the timeline and none of us are even remotely alone.
Rise and Shine, Flyer, Houston TX 1990(s)
And then there are the tools.
Repurposed, recycled, and reimagined- Every time I start to feel my faith in humanity start to slip, I revisit this collection of tools. The full blast ingenuity on display in these objects never ceases to blow my mind. Created by everyday folk, they often take on characteristics normally attributed to the rarified art world:
The ability to abandon prescribed meaning? Yup.
To see materials as pure possibility? Oh hell yes.
Leaps in logic that could only come from the realm of the imagination? Give me more, give me more.
The ability to be both humble and weird at the same time? Nirvana.
Cowboy Boot Tool Belt; Bastard File with Corncob Handle; Bike Handle Rake with Nails; Six hammers w/ Custom handles; Butter Knife Wind Chime
Each of these modified tools was born of a problem that need solving. And each one had a former owner who decided the problem wasn’t going to be solved by buying more. Or consuming more. Or favoring the new. A decision was made that each object had a rich enough history to deserve a second life. For those of us who are having tricky time engaging with the past, there’s a lot to be learned from them.
Matt Allison,
Spring/ Summer '24
The Georgia Muslim Voter Project (GAMVP) was founded in 2015 in response to prevailing anti-Muslim rhetoric in mainstream politics. Muslim communities across Georgia were often overlooked and seen as disempowered or lacking influence in the political landscape and rarely outreached to during elections, leading to low rates of civic engagement across Georgia Muslim communities.
Since then, GAMVP has created programs that outreach to Muslim communities across Georgia by holding voter registration drives, voter education sessions, and community conversations to increase civic engagement in these communities.
GAMVP has activated over 100,000 Muslims across Georgia by hosting programs that make the electoral process and legislative process accessible.
Help make sure every eligible voter is able to vote by promoting the nationwide nonpartisan Election Protection voter hotlines. If you or anyone you know encounters problems while voting, call:
• English language hotline 866-OUR-VOTE
• Spanish language hotline 888-VE-Y-VOTA
• Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Tagalog language hotline 888-API-VOTE
• Arabic language hotline 844-YALLA-US
A call to action, commonly known by the initialism CTA, is a strategic marketing tool designed to spur an immediate response from an audience, guiding them toward a specific action.
NNH began with the (perhaps naive) hope that it could be of service to folks who needed it. I wasn't exactly sure who that meant- Was it the potential readership? The Mutual Aid groups that would be featured in each post? Or other creative types (equally fed up with the constant "me at the center" paradigm required by our Tech Overlords) looking for a place to get weird and do some good.
SO, if you're out there- whomever you may be- Let me know. Leave a comment. Click a link. Tell a friend. Pitch an idea. Do anything to feel less alone in the world.
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