Gun Shy
By Jessica Spring and Chandler O'Leary
Tacoma, Washington: Springtide Press/Anagram Press, 2013.
Edition of 151.

10 x 18"; single-sheet broadside. Printed letterpress on archival 100% rag (cotton) paper. Handset wood type. Signed and numbered by the artists.

This broadside featuring Annie Oakley, dubbed Little Sure-Shot by Chief Sitting Bull, is one in the Dead Feminists broadside series by Anagram Press and Springtide Press.

Springtide Press: "This hand-pulled letterpress print is printed from hand-lettered original typography and hand-drawn illustrations and patterns (in fact, everything was done by hand, the hard way!). This piece is a collaboration between Chandler O'Leary of Anagram Press and Jessica Spring of Springtide Press, in solidarity with those stand up for the rights and equality of all, despite the considerable might of the powerful few."

Chandler O'Leary: "This has not been an easy post to write—and yet in a way it’s been writing itself over and over again, for years now. To be honest, Jessica and I designed this broadside months ago, and planned to release it shortly after last year’s theater shooting in Aurora, CO. Other projects got in the way, and then the 2012 election persuaded us to table the piece for the time being.

"We should have known: until there’s serious change in our society, this subject will always be hatefully relevant.

"So here we are again, on the heels of yet another rash of terrible violence. But this time feels different—not only because of the sheer horror of the Newtown tragedy, but because at last, our country is having the conversation it needs to have.

"At the center of the debate is the precarious balance of right and responsibility—and here’s where I need to keep from shooting my mouth off. I’ve written and deleted a hundred sentences about Jessica’s and my personal thoughts on the subject—but I have a feeling you can already guess what they are. And we also recognize that our beliefs represent just one side of our divided culture. So the thought of pontificating just wearies and saddens us; we’d much rather focus on how we might move forward, together.

"For us, that meant starting with an attempt to comprehend the other side of the debate. So in hoping to understand the love of guns many in our country share, we looked to legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, whose words pierce the heart of the matter."

Aim at a high mark, work for the future.

(SOLD)