bootlicker (noun) (Patreon)

hey mates, above is the first drawing of a long series im gonna work on for the next chunk of time, defining a lot of classic terms (grub, delegate, hsr, scab etc) and also a bunch of old school worker symbols (bunch of sticks tied together, wooden shoe, black cat etc).
as someone who works with images every day, i am extremely fortunate and grateful to be part of a movement that has such a rich history of iconography and visual language. i wanna celebrate that with this series, as well as make some kinda effort to make the symbols as accessible and understandable as possible, so that other activists and artists cld maybe feel more confident playing with these signs. i figure the terms and symbols are our shared luggage and they should be redeployed, reinvented, chopped and screwed so we dont get all cobwebby. all the definitions will be presented in the same format as the one above, and i'm thinking i'll make like 50 in the end, n they shld all click together neatly in the final layout, which will probably be printed on massive posters, ideally for workplace walls.
i'll try send one drawn definition with each of these patreon updates to keep me churning them out.

drew the above as a quick gesture of solidarity with the CFMEU who are getting rat fucked again. bosses and their organisation the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) are attempting to outlaw any visible union presence on construction sites, including the Eureka flag. If successful, the ban would almost certainly extend to union-issued information about health and safety, translated info for workers who speak languages other than English, posters about rights on the job and any encouragement to join the union.

As the CFMEU's Dave Noonan said yesterday “we have hundreds of government inspectors going around trying to censor free speech on building sites by banning posters. It’s just blatant anti-union behaviour. They want to try and censor the fact that unions exist. Organiser Michael Hiscox said this morning - "26 deaths on building sites this year and the government is focused on flags and stickers. Worth noting the majority of union posters this year have been displaying COVID info (translated in multiple languages) because builders and safety regulators were dragging their feet."

i dont think i've sent out the above image yet, which was for the cover of the first edition of the australian Fabian magazine. it's sposed to be about how our experience of the lockdown was dictated by our class positions, and a rejection of the idea that 'we're all in this together'. the below characters are little interstitial guys to be scattered throughout the publication:

i made a few copies of the below tiny banners printed on cloth as a gift for the ppl that helped me develop that particular cartoon. i think i have one spare if anyone wants it let me know, happy to send it out, esp if u live in this kinda housing, or work in housing advocacy or campaigning or anything like that.

me and the rest of Workers Art Collective have been trying to draw something quick to celebrate each of United Workers Unions strike victories, in a small attempt to support and amplify a culture of industrial action. UWU have had more strikes in the last month than the rest of union movement combined, which is both great and awful!!!

i love drawing those off the cuff solidarity pieces, i find em rly satisfying to make and they offer a chance to try new visual ideas out. they also give me a bit of relief from the longer book project that is my primary focus at the moment, which is satisfying on another level but also a total fucking slog. i will try send an update about all that next time i write actually, it's coming along nicely, it has taken years but i have drawn 7 of the ten chapters now and i'm looking forward to getting closer to finishing it off in the new year. main focus of 2021 >:-)

this comic about Pine Gap was in last weeks edition of Italian magazine 'Internazionale'. Feel free to forward to this email to any Italian speakers you know who might be interested.
the english version can be found here 

hope everyone has a nice new years. may no one near insist that its the calendar year that is to blame for the calamitous woes we are facing / all the chickens that are coming home to roost hahaha ogodd <3<3<3