By Tyler Starr
North Carolina: Wobble Press, 2022. Edition of 20 + 3 AP.
9" x 11.5" x 1.25"; 72 pages. Pigment prints on Moab Entrada Rag Bright 190 gm coated with Moab Desert Spray. Archival painting of page edges. Custom hardcover case binding with rounded spine, foil stamping on front, back, spine, and interior. Custom clamshell with tunnel component and foil stamping on front, back and spine. Signed and numbered by the artist.
Tyler Starr: “’Flags, Placards, and Illicit Climbers of the Capitol Insurrection (January 6, 2021)’ is a 72-page artist’s book based on hours of January 6th footage scoured for images of rioters scaling walls to flank security on the Capitol Grounds. Context is provided with a thorough survey of the flags and placards carried by participants shedding light on their affiliations, motivations, and ideologies, including those aligned with far-right extremist movements and individuals with conspiratorial views of the election. Examples extracted from the flood of imagery offer sociological insights into the violent insurgency including sign-making aesthetics, physical gestures, and fashion preferences.
“The book design is influenced by brochures found at historical sites, presenting accessible nuggets of complex information distilled from primary documentation, inviting viewers to discover and investigate for themselves. A critical contribution to this project comes from the open-source intelligence community, who organized extensive amounts of January 6th footage on websites to assist the FBI with crowdsourcing the identification of perpetrators for prosecution. This project acknowledges the importance of archival work and the power of open-source intelligence to uncover facts.”
www.history.com/this-day-in-history: “On the afternoon of January 6, 2021, a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters descend on the U.S. Capitol, attempting to interfere with the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. The rioters assaulted the Capitol police force and ransacked the complex, destroying property and sending members of Congress and their staff into hiding in offices and bunkers. A protester who was shot by police died in the chaos and more than 100 members of law enforcement were injured. …For several hours, rioters looted and ransacked congressional offices, including the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; invaded the senate chamber; and posed for pictures.”
$2000