Cleaning 12
With the current climate of social justice movements and police brutality disproportionately against black lives -- I'd like to bring light to our societal need to cleanse 12.
For those of you who may not know, 12 refers to the police in slang. "Cleaning 12" is an illustration of a laundry detergent bottle and fabric softener which is meant to be a light-hearted take on cleansing and softening 12. This artwork was created on Procreate digitally using the 6B pencil for a grainy texture which plays as a personal stylistic choice and branding I have been experimenting with as an artist. To interact, support, and engage with "Cleaning 12" on social media click here or click on the image to land on my Instagram with this art posted there.
"Cleaning 12" has multiple dimensions of planes with the bottle label components, the label itself, the bottles, and the background. These planes are stacked on one another -- we know these are planes because "a plane can be described with lines or with fields of color. These letterforms use ribbons of color to describe spatial planes." These fields of color are separated by lines and points that create visual harmony between separation and unity of the label.
The contrasting color of the yellow label with green branding components brings attention to the different marketing strategies for our orange detergent bottle. It highlights the marketing of 50% off and the original formula along with this bottle allowing the "buyer" to get more loads out of this bottle as opposed to some other bottle on the shelf. If these visual planes of color were not juxtaposed next to one another on the detergent label, the "buyer" might overlook these elements which are essential to making a sale. These are real world applications I am showing through my illustration implementing points, lines, and planes. Similar elements of points, lines, and planes are implemented in the blue fabric softener as well.
Similar to how actual companies market and brand their detergent bottles, for example, the police department throughout America and the judicial system have found themself in an unspoken branding of brutality and injustice disproportionately against black people. I recognize my artwork "Cleaning 12" does not make an actionable change aside from starting an insightful conversation, hopefully. I am linking some resources and petitions for you if you are interested in cleaning 12.
Justice for Breonna Taylor Petition
Statistics of Mapping Police Violence
Wow, I love the meaning behind your sketch. It is so cute and unassuming but really has a deep and powerful message. The idea of using your brand to rebrand our current system is so inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI love the simplicity of the art in order to deliver the complexity of your message! I hadn't previously heard of the use of "12" to refer to police so thank you for bringing that to my attention, I will definitely be doing some more reading. In response to your last paragraph, starting the conversation is a very important and essential step that then empowers people to take actionable change.
ReplyDeleteYou were able to weave so many representations and make connections to your art, our current and ongoing social justice climate, and the topic for this art project. It is such a beautiful art piece that holds such an even bigger meaning.
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