Domestic Terror
by Nils in New York, New York
“I’m an artist and deeply upset about this administration. I feel compelled to protest. I’m originally from Germany. I’m a dual citizen now. I grew up hearing about my grandparents’ history and what happened in Germany in the ‘30s. I came to the States to study. I stayed. I’m deeply committed to this country and the city, and what’s happening with this administration is really concerning and upsetting. I mean, fascism is no joke.
I would love it if they impeached the president. I would love it if we could get rid of this administration as soon as possible. I can’t think of anything good. They’re enriching themselves, starting wars, and terrorizing their own citizens. It’s a disaster.
I do a lot of woodblock printing and carving, so I make large templates for my work. I collect imagery. I used certain imagery like the iconic mushroom cloud, which makes me think of ‘80s punk album covers and the Cold War. I put the imagery together in Photoshop and played around with it. Then I made a large-scale print of the digital collage. It was just a given that I would create a protest sign and that it would be a little bit different.”
– Nils in New York, New York
Signs of the Time is an all-volunteer collective that cares deeply about this fraught moment in time. We celebrate the creative ways people are demonstrating at rallies around the country by taking photos of protest signs and uncovering the stories behind them.
By posting protest signs/stories to our media channels, we hope to:
amplify the originality and ferocity of purpose of each sign’s message;
honor the personal stories that inspired the making of the signs;
elevate each sign-makers’ passion as an urgent call to action; and
create an archive of citizens’ resistance against the current administration.
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Photos of signs and interview comments have been used with permission of the sign creators, photographers and citizen journalists.