by Chloe Parkinson
MADA 2023
COL3002 Survival
→ Home
→ Background
→ Process
→ Outcome
→ Distribution
by Chloe Parkinson
MADA 2023
COL3002 Survival
→ Home
→ Background
→ Process
→ Outcome
→ Distribution
Distribution
For the t-shirts, distributing was a fairly simple process. I gave them out to some of my classmates for free (not technically free, offering themselves up as models for documentation was the payment I demanded). Now, as we have all left Prato onto our next adventures it is in their hands how, and when, they choose to wear these tshirts. It is my hope that as they wear them around, whether that is elsewhere in Europe or back in Australia, people who pass by them will be interested in what they see at the very least. More ideally, it will spark conversations about the role that government has in public life, both when thinking about this anti-rave law specifically, but also as a way to reflect on their own governments and others around the world.
For the posters, distributing was slightly more complicated. In most instances, protesters are happy to paste their messages around cities and public spaces. I was too, however it was important to consider the fact that I am a foreigner to Italy, and that pasting up political messages is not necessarily the safest choice I could make as a tourist. Ultimately, though, I decided it would not be in the spirit of my assignment to shy away from publically displaying my message. So, on a Monday morning I put up 9 posters around town. On Tuesday, as I was walking to the train station, I walked past one that had survived the day and was still up in the town square. On Wednesday, I arrived to class in the morning to discover that the police had removed some of them and had alerted the university that I was not to do it again. This was not a particularly suprising outcome, and I think does somewhat testify to the overall point of my project; governments do not like protest and other political messages, but is is nonetheless necessary that groups do stand up for themselves. In saying that, I did immediately remove the remaining posters as I did not want to agitate the police or the university any more than I already had. Had I been in Australia, I may have been more comfortable leaving them up.