Michele Pred, Oakland, CA based artist and activist with “Security Storm”, 2016, Umbrella, bullets and monofilament, 42 x 36 x 36 inches in “Deadlocked and Loaded”. What does it mean to be protected and to feel secure? Who is providing that protection? Marginalized communities and people of color cannot depend on the police to keep them safe. There have been massive numbers of guns sold this year, up 60%. You can own a gun, but do you know how to properly use it or store it?
Pred says, “Security Storm is a suspended umbrella with bullets of varying sizes raining down beneath. The arraignment asks us to consider what it means to be protected and feel secure as well as ask who is providing that protection. The bullets are also a stark reminder of how immersed in gun-culture we are here in the United States. We are virtually swimming in a sea of “protection”, yet, as a nation, we feel increasingly vulnerable. Why is that? The current astronomical murder rate and the nation-leading number of citizens (predominately of color) shot and killed by police demand that we think, talk and act to find viable solutions right now!”
How about some common sense measures. Consider if guns were as regulated as cars. I had to jump through more hoops to adopt my dog than it would take to get a gun.
Title and tag at each point of sale
Driver training / Gun training
Written test
Practical Test
Health Requirements
Liability insurance on each vehicle/gun
Renewals and inspections at intervals
Michele Pred is a Swedish American conceptual artist whose practice includes sculpture, assemblage, and performance. Her work uncovers the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects, with a concentration on feminist themes such as equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. Pred’s projects also contain social components that drive the conversation into public spaces. Examples include her exploration of the intersection of personal space and security by using airport-confiscated items after 9/11, the cultural background of the fight for reproductive rights, using thousands of expired birth control pills, and the continuing economic and political struggle for women’s rights, represented by her modified vintage handbag editions. She is represented by Nancy Hoffman Gallery in New York.
Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Berkeley Art Museum, the 21st C Museum, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, and the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. Pred received a Pro-Choice Leadership Award from Personal PAC, Chicago, and has shown at Jack Shainman Gallery as an original member of For Freedoms.
Learn more at michelepred.com and @michelepred
