Suite of 9 Screenprints
2021
Open Edition
19″ x 25″
Prints are packaged in a protective portfolio
Inscriptions: Signature (front)
Produced through the 2021 Residency Program

Autonomous Democracy is a project that explores, archives, and celebrates the history of temporary experiments in direct democracy within liberation movements.

1. OBREROS UNIDOS JAMÁS SERÁN VENCIDOS
[WORKERS UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED]
Slogan shared by union activist Terry Davis.

2. a space where we stand for love, fight for freedom, & build community
Slogan shared by Sarah-Ji Rhee from Love and Struggle Photos.

3. ΓΕΝΙΚΉ ΑΠΕΡΓΊΑ!
ΆΜΕΣΗ ΔΗΜΟΚΡΑΤΊΑ ΤΏΡΑ!
[GENERAL STRIKE | DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOW]
Slogan shared by Marina Sitrin

4. كن مع الثورة
[be with the revolution]
Slogan shared by Lara Baladi and calligraphy by Mohamed Gaber

5. ASSEMBLE | STRIKE| OCCUPY | MANIFEST REAL DEMOCRACY

6. AIN’T NO POWER LIKE THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE, ‘CAUSE THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE DON’T STOP. SAY WHAT?
Slogan shared by activist David Solnit

7. RÊVE GÉNÉRAL ILLIMITÉ
[UNLIMITED OPEN DREAMS]
A play on “grève générale illimitée” (unlimited general strike).
Slogan shared by Stefan Christoff

8. QUEREMOS UN MUNDO DONDE QUEPAN MUCHOS MUNDOS
[WE WANT A WORLD WHERE MANY WORLDS FIT]
Slogan shared by activist artist Andrea Narno

9. THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE
Slogan shared by activist artist Aaron Hughes

Aaron Hughes is an artist, curator, organizer, teacher, anti-war activist, and Iraq War veteran living in Chicago. He works collaboratively in diverse spaces and media to create meaning out of personal and collective trauma, deconstruct and transform systems of oppression, and seek liberation. Working through an interdisciplinary practice rooted in drawing and printmaking, he develops projects that deconstruct militarism and related institutions of dehumanization. These projects often utilize popular research strategies, experiment with forms of direct democracy, and operate in solidarity with the people most impacted by structural violence.