Taking aim at the repressive gendered iconography of white communion and bridal dresses, Mark Mitchell instead honors the unsung work of those who counter such prescriptive notions, often through the very fact of their existence. Wrapped in white silk and sweetly embroidered, with a braided cotton fuse, Mitchell delivers a bomb from the past in Cracker Party. Remarks Mitchell, the piece is “a tribute sculpture to the George Jackson Brigade, an intersectional armed resistance group of the late 60’s and early 70’s active in the Pacific Northwest. They were comprised of two gay ex-cons, two lesbians, a sex worker and a Black Panther. I made this bomb to celebrate their legacy.”
Ben Durham