Theaster Gates: My Labor Is My Protest

by Honey Luard (Editor), Bill Brown (Text), Fred Moten (Text)

Theaster Gates (born 1973) is an artist, curator and urban activist whose work aims to galvanize communities and act as a catalyst for social change. For My Labor Is My Protest , a fall 2012 show at London’s White Cube, Gates created a multi-faceted installation that investigated themes of race and history through sculpture, installation, performance and two-dimensional works exhibited both inside and outside of the gallery. In “Raising Goliath,” Gates used theatrical pulleys to suspend a classic red fire-truck from the ceiling of the gallery, counterbalancing it with a huge metal container, housing hundreds of leatherbound issues of African-American magazines such as Jet and Ebony . For “My Labor Is My Protest,” he parked a yellow fire truck at the entrance to the gallery and partially covered it with tar. Also included in the show and accompanying catalogue is documentation of The Johnson Library, a library on black American culture installed at the gallery.

172 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2013