Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free

Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free (2019).

neon, programmer and transformers. 60 x 13cm. Edition of 3.

Produced in blown glass, only the two inner words ‘power’ and ‘men’ are filled with gas and programmed to flash on and off in a continuous loop, the full word ‘empowerment’ never being fully lit.

In 1971 at the Founding of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Washington D.C. pioneering nonviolent activist for the civil rights movement and the women’s movement Fannie Lou Hamer stated; “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free”. Adopting Hamer’s words as the title, this work aims to address the persistency of white supremacy and white male patriarchal oppression, and calls attention to the progress still to be made in the fight for equality. In the wake of recent activism calling out the current political, social and economic injustices around the world, Hamer’s call to accountability has become even more significant today in a landscape dominated by white male power. With the reignited fight against injustice becoming a growing force in contemporary culture, this work aims to be a catalyst, a call to action and a mirror reflecting the patriarchal structures still in place and preventing true empowerment for all members of our society.