Local artists #OccupyDCart

Many artists and other creatives in the area have kept an eye on local Occupy activity, and wondered how they could get involved through the arts.

"It took me awhile to get a feel for what they [Occupy DC activists] as a community are feeling," explains DC born-and-raised visual artist Joseph Orzal, about the growth of Occupy DC and its ties to the now-global Occupy movement.

That led Orzal to recently spend two weeks connecting with activists at both Occupy encampments at Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square, in an effort to better understand their cause and message.  He met with folks in tents, toured the various on-site community facilities, and came to know Occupiers on a personal level not afforded by current mainstream media coverage of them.

"I think, from some of the people I’ve talked to, the idea of having a concrete aesthetic attached to any movement is really important," Orzal says.  "So people are open to us redoing all the signage [featuring] an array of slogans and mantras that the Occupiers requested."

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You see, Joseph Orzal is a Vagabond.  And he's part of a cadre of Co-Conspirators from the local VESTIBULE collective bringing a mobile "guerrilla gallery" to the streets of Our Nation's Capitol, opening with an inaugural show featuring artwork created by a team of emerging street artists he's assembled from around DC to work with Occupiers on taking the signs, banners, and other materials used in communicating their messages and reinterpreting them into a cohesive social protest art aesthetic aligned with the ethos of the local Occupy movement.

The guerrilla gallery is comprised of 15 mobile exhibition modules created by artist and architect Evan Howell, and made of plywood, wire mesh and plastic sheeting, designed to reflect the building materials found in an Occupy camp. They’re also temporary structures, in accordance with the National Park Service rules.  However, the guerrilla gallery won't just be confined to McPherson Square, promises local performance artist, hunger striker, and project collaborator Adrian Parsons.

"It’s like having a mini-Occupation throughout the city," says Parsons, referring to the gallery's focus on popping up unannounced around DC and showing art arising from the local Occupy movement.  (Talk of future exhibitions currently includes a show featuring photography related to the growing Occupy Our Homes splinter movement to occupy unsold foreclosed homes in colder U.S. climates.)

The VESTIBULE guerrilla gallery opens this Friday, December 30, in McPherson Square and will remain onsite for its opening exhibition — #OccupyDCart — for about a week before it starts popping up in front of iconic DC landmarks, high-traffic areas, and select corporate offices.  Follow @VESTIBULEdc on Twitter for the latest updates on the guerrilla gallery and click here to make a donation that provides arts supplies, transportation of the guerrilla gallery structures, and other needs associated with this project.

This guerilla artgallery was partially funded by The Awesome Foundation.