by Jeffrey Yamaguchi
Photographer Matthew Kraus has documented a soundless and unorganized protest that occurred around the time of the 2004 Republican National Convention in the East Village neighborhood of New York City — an onslaught of sticker art, some angry, some humorous, but all political, stuck on all manner of surfaces for as long as the glue would hold. Instead of images of the rallies and marches and arrests, Kraus went after something else with his lens, and though it wasn’t announced with press releases or shown on the news, that doesn’t necessarily mean it went unnoticed. Indeed, it was hard to miss – at least as a view here and a quick glance there. But it is Kraus’ photographic collection — Sticker Shock — which presents a fuller view of this rather haphazard form of protest. The 112-page book, which features exquisite photographs of the stickers on the surfaces of street lamps, parking meters, windows and walls, provides a rather unique insight into what was going on below the surface in one particular neighborhood during a time in which people were doing their best to stir up political upheaval (or at least paying attention to the political landscape).
How did you start taking pictures of the stickers? Was it something that occurred to you gradually, or were you walking around the East Village and it immediately struck you how all these stickers had popped up?
Living in the East Village for the last 6-plus years has afforded me the opportunity to observe an incredibly diverse group of unique people, places, and art…particularly street art. The sheer volume of graffiti, installation work, stencils, paintings, fliers and stickers can at times be so overwhelming as to render the viewer immune to their content. I have always considered myself a connoisseur of the graphic arts, and a consummate observer. One of the things I enjoy most about living in the East Village, and New York City in general, is the cacophony of “voices” that one hears from not just the people in the street, or the sounds of the cars, trucks, and buses, but from the art as well. The East Village has forever been known as a bastion of rebellion, so there had always been a fair amount of political commentary found in the street. But, leading up to the Republican Convention, I noticed this particular “voice” becoming louder and louder, reaching an absolute crescendo during the convention itself. Taking the pictures began as an exercise in simply cataloging what I was seeing for myself.
I have for many years had a voracious appetite for all things graphic. At the time my morning routine consisted of walking my 3-year-old son 12 blocks through the Alphabet City section of the East Village to school, and then back to catch my bus to the West Village where I work. During the days that I was shooting I would simply take a different route to my son’s school, and then a different route back, capturing along the way all of the convention/Bush/politically related stickers that I saw. I must say that it did become a mild obsession. There were simply so many. Anecdotally, it was interesting going through the process of explaining to my son what I was doing when he would ask me why we were stopping. It became sort of a cathartic process, explaining why all of these people were so upset, and who they were upset with, in simple enough terms for a 3-year-old to understand. For me it was all part of the process of digesting what was going on in the place that was essentially the epicenter of one of the largest protests of my generation.
Did you do any research to find out where all these stickers were coming from? Where were the stickers coming from? Who was making them? Who was distributing them? Who was putting them up?
Well, much of that was dictated by the inclusion of an author/artist or in most cases a web address on the sticker. I did contact as many people as I could once the collection was slated to appear as a book. If to do nothing else, to simply let them know that I had heard their voices, and wanted the rest of the world to hear them as well. Several of the stickers that appear in the book have copyright symbols on them, so those people were contacted out of shear practicality, as I had to obtain permission to display their work in the book. Many, if not all inquiries on my part to contact the author/artists of the stickers were met with nothing but enthusiasm and appreciation. People were very receptive to the idea of their sentiments being spread to an even larger audience than those who saw them on the street. Plus, you have to know that the project was being put together before the election, on the heels of the convention, so the rebellious, protesting spirit was still full of the idea that we all might make an actual difference in the outcome. I also had a book release event that was attended by some of the creators of the stickers. I was very touched by the appreciation that they showed for my efforts to get the book out, and try to disseminate their collective voices. Ironically of course, I am the most appreciative of them, for if they had not put in the work to make those stickers, I would have no book. After the book came out, I was contacted by several people who came across the book, and had stickers of theirs appear in it contents. I still keep in touch with some of them, as we share a passion for the same sort of dialogue. It’s funny when you put your effort into something like this, as with most artistic endeavors, how you really do make meaningful connections with those that you share the same spirit with. In the case of this book, the common thread among us (myself, and those who produced the stickers that appear in the book) most obviously, was our dissatisfaction with our representative government and it’s policies. More subtly I would say we shared a passion for graphics and how it relates to pubic discourse of any kind.
Were you involved in the protests during the Republican Convention? How much of the Sticker Shock project is political, and how much is it documentation?
I really wasn’t all that directly involved with the protests. However, living in the area that I do, you couldn’t help but feel that you were part of a movement. At the time I really was just putting all my available efforts into capturing what was going on. With this project, as with anything like it, things really were working on multiple levels for me. The project was both political and documentation. They really never felt mutually exclusive to me. While it started out as a simple cataloging of what was going on around me, I was certainly drawn to this particular subject because of it’s content. It can certainly be discerned from the content of the book that I lean a little more to the left than some. That in itself is not at all uncommon in the area that I live, but very early in my collecting of these images I noticed that they were not only being put up, but torn down as well. This “conversation” became just as interesting to me as the message of the stickers themselves: A sort of public debate.
On that note, I’ve been asked by several people why I didn’t include any of the “pro-Bush” stickers that I came across in the book. Funny enough, I did actually come across one. On the way to my son’s school, I saw one of the classic Bush/Cheney ’04 stickers placed on top of a sticker calling for the “No To The Bush Agenda!” rally that was to take place on the Sunday before the convention. I was running late, so I decided to get a shot of that on my way back. By the time I returned, no more than twenty minutes later, someone had already placed another “…Bush Agenda” sticker on top. The image of that exchange appears in the book, and it is that “discussion” that was really the impetus for the cover image for the book. A torn image of President Bush with the word Traitor below it, eerily still recognizable as its subject. Another motivating factor for me to produce a book of this nature was that it felt to me like the popular media was not doing its part to publicize this particular voice. At a very primal level I think that this project just felt like it was a very small contribution that I could make to the collective consciousness of the movement.
Why do you feel the stickers during the convention are worth documenting? What is it about the stickers that inspired you to create the Sticker Shock project?
On one level I feel that the book is important because it captures a moment in a time of tremendous historical significance. And during that moment, a very particular, possibly overlooked form of protest and personal expression. It is also very simply an anthology of a very graphic form. As a graphic artist myself I was really blown away by the shear magnitude of the effort many of these artists put into expressing their messages. I mean, you really have every style of graphic interpretation here…from illustration, both crude and precise, to stickers that use strictly text. In a much more broad sense I think that these stickers convey an oft-overlooked version of patriotism. That concept it seems has become so convoluted in the minds of so many people. The people who created these stickers did so with such passion and personal expression, I felt that at the very least their voices should be amplified. With regards to creating the Sticker Shock project in particular, I have always enjoyed arranging collections of my photographs into book form for myself. The book form I have found is a great way to consolidate a group of images and still convey pacing, movement and story. Not to mention what it feels like to simply hold a book in your hand. They really are an incredibly powerful, portable device, often underappreciated in this digital age. This aspect of portability was the catalyst for the final size of the book. I really did want it to feel like a journal or manifesto of sorts; something the reader could carry around with them and share with others. The format itself became clear as the collection of photographs began to reveal a recognizable narrative thread. I have never in my experience had the opportunity to work with so many photographs that had so much copy. En masse, I did attempt to tell something of a story with the way that I arranged the images in the book, complete with subsections and chapters. It did interest me right away that I might have a photography book that you could actually “read”.
Stickers can certainly convey an opinion. Do you think that they can change someone’s opinion?
This brings up an interesting point actually. I never have felt like this book was going to change the individual hearts and minds of those that disagree with its sentiment. I do however feel that the more people who contribute to a collective consciousness of any kind, the more that message will begin to permeate itself in less informed, less agreeable communities. You can’t simply bite your tongue because you are “preaching to the choir” as they say, because if you do, than no one is saying anything at all.
How did the book project come about? How did you go about getting your photographs published in book form?
About a month after I took the photographs I had a fully designed dummy of the book, very closely resembling the final book that went into production. Caught up in the excitement of what was going on at the time, with all the looming protests, and vigilant talk, I strongly considered shopping it around for publication. Because of the quick turnaround it would require to get the book out before the election, I wanted to have all the information at my fingertips to provide a potential publisher with a turn-key product. Carolyn Burbridge has been a color separator and print broker I have been working with for several years. I simply approached her for an estimate of costs to produce the book. I must have really had the luck of the Irish, because after seeing the project, she generously and enthusiastically offered to produce and publish the book herself. She really did bring the book to life, and for that I will be eternally grateful.
How are you getting the word out about the book?
Most of the marketing has been done by either word-of-mouth (which of course includes the passing along of emails about the book), or by directly contacting independent booksellers about carrying the book. We also had an event to launch the book, where we had the book for sale to get the word out. I think it has helped that the organizations that were made aware of their presence in the book passed along that information to their own constituents. We are beginning to get the word out to different press outlets as well. It really is your quintessential grass roots operation at this point.
What are you taking photographs of now? What’s your next project?
At the moment I am simply back to my routine of shooting the things around me that draw my attention. What project that turns into, only time will tell.
What book/photographer/artist has most influenced your own artistic efforts?
You know, over the years I have been influenced by so many artists, it would be difficult to pinpoint who I would credit with most influencing my work. But I can say without question that I have picked up more than my fair share of energy and ideas from artists like Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Avedon, Chip Kidd, Paul Rand, Miles Davis, Jackson Pollack, Kandinsky… The list goes on and on…
Visit the Sticker Shock website to see images from the book, as well as a list of bookstores where you can purchase a copy. You can also buy the book from Amazon.com.
Book details:
Sticker Shock, published by Burbridge Books
112 pages, 80 color images
Price: $15