hi viz vest, never worn (Patreon)

hey,

what shld i draw about next do you reckon? there is a poll at the bottom of this email if u want to vote out of these options:

1: yarra river seal
I had the pleasure of seeing Salvatore the seal in the yarra river the other day, watching him along with maybe one hundred other ppl along the bank of the river, very nice collective experience of this giant animal frothing around 10/10 wld recommend. He is a 200 kilogram australian fur seal who is filling up on the carp in the stretch of the river between abbotsford and the cbd before he heads back out to the bay and the ocean. No idea how i cld draw about him, but thinking about him makes me feel good so i’d be up for having a crack if thats something people wld like to see. maybe i cld somehow touch on the time that someone tagged the seal in my hometown with spraypaint lololololo o no

option 2: pill testing
I was thinking i cld work toward a harm minimisation triptych (series of three) kinda thing, following on from that piece about safe injecting rooms. pill / drug testing involves accessible analysis of the contents of drugs to help ppl avoid unknown and potentially dangerous ingredients or substances in drugs. seems to be another one of those issues where research, campaigning and common sense prevails eventually, only to be shot back to square one by cycles of reaction and tabloid media, rinse and repeat. I cld make some celebratory street poster about how positive drug checking is, with an eye to making a third related harm reduction piece later on. that safe injecting room poster has been stuck up in streets and clinics around the place, cld make something that wld hopefully serve a similar purpose but supporting the push for pill testing this time.

option 3: star of the south
the federal government has finally introduced legislation that shld allow australia's first offshore wind farm to be built, after stalling for years and years, for ideological reasons. Off the coast of Gippsland, ‘the star of the south’ will generate 20% of victoria’s power and give heaps of jobs to ppl from coal dependent communities. The govt may still hold it all up tho, even tho its funded and ready to go with support of Indigenous communities, unions, local councils, state govt (the feds just need to literally sign it off cos they have jurisdiction over the ocean), so having a resource that explains what it is and why we should push for it could be helpful to campaigners. Also the renderings of how it’d look are so pretty and optimistic, it wld be fun to try and draw.

option 4: how unions should respond to right-wing street movements
I thought i shld put this option here cos of everything going on with the attacks on the CFMEU and the anti vax movements, and since i have gotten maybe 20 messages about it all in the last 24 hrs, but i dont rlyyy wanna draw about it, im kinda overdosed on unions with my book on the topic filling 95% of my time these days, and i am finding all these unfolding events pretty disturbing. but yeah i cld try and draw something about how the labour movement might respond to far right forces within our ranks (and also those pretending to be within our ranks). Pls dont vote for this option unless u rly want it tho hahaha it all makes me feel sick and kind of deranged :-V

on that topic, this meeting tonight will be good, hosted by the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, starts at 6pm. click here to attend

there is also a meeting about the aforementioned offshore windfarm plans happening from 6pm this thursday if anyone wanted to get along and have a listen.

Drew the above cos im extremely shat by all the conservatives saying that they are rallying for mental health in the face of lockdowns even tho they’re the same ppl who cut funding for support services whenever they are able. I dont think “gotcha” moments rly get us far in politics / dont rly build power or whatever, but i thort this cld be a good meme-y kinda image to troll tories with when they’re on social media trying to weaponise mental health to oppose health orders....


new workplace health and safety poster for the Maritime Union:

on sunday i sent off the final draft version of my book to David my editor at Scribe Publications, all fkn 256 pages. theres still a bunch of fiddley stuff to tie off but its getting so close. David was kind enough to arrange a rough print out of the thing for me to do one last once over before we bolt it all down, here are some photos:

a bunch of my recent work, and the template for the above chapter header spread was inspired by this bolivian neo andean style of architecture, obsessed:

sorry there isnt heeaps of stuff in this update, ive been working rly hard on finishing the book which is very time consuming. once the book is done i'll be back in the world a bit more! looking forward to that. meantime pls vote on what u think i shld draw next, i think the options shld be at the bottom of this email, i'll get stuck into whichever option gets the most votes.

cheers mates take care, listen to King Stingray and dont believe everyone who tells you they're a CFMEU member!!!!!!!

sam