Artwork paying tribute to the late left-wing LSE anthropologist professor David Graeber – known for being a leading figure during the Occupy Wall Street movement – has been spotted in Islington and as far away as New York City.
In Rosebery Avenue bus stop on Clerkenwell Road an orange poster bears a portrait of Graeber – who died last month, aged 59 – highlighting his belief in the importance of direct action. It reads: “Direct action is, ultimately, the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free.”
nice tribute to david graeber in clerkenwell pic.twitter.com/LTuzxSfHtJ
— David Lee Astley (@dl_astley) October 21, 2020
It is unknown when the creation, installed by Protest Stencil, was erected.
Identical billboards have been spotted across London in Hackney, Lambeth and Elephant and Castle, as well as one being posted in New York, USA – the city of Graeber’s birth – by Art in Ad Places and American artist Jordan Seiler.
They were drawn by award-winning designer Marco Bevilacqua and illustrator OT Pascoe, both based in Edinburgh, and commissioned by publisher Dog Section Press.
A spokesperson for Dog Stencil Press told Islington Now: “We thought it would be a fitting tribute to use some of his words – which have been so inspirational for so many people – in a form of direct action.”
