Originally titled “Talk About It: Confronting The Legacy of Gun Violence in America”

The long titled is “Talk About It: Confronting The Legacy of Gun Violence in America.” This series by Georgie Chalker is based off a quote by Werner Herzog: “It is not so much about studying the bird, it is about becoming the bird” referencing a book titled “The Peregrine” he uses in his master film class. The series came out of the frustration felt by Chalker in processing yet another mass shooting in America after the incomprehensible Shady Hook shooting. She was trying to understand how people felt about gun ownership and the responsibility that comes with it. She needed a way to encourage people to talk about guns on a personal level in order to understand them more. She began to paint them.

This series uses an ink blots technique used by Andy Warhol in his fashion illustrations. Chalker needed a way to soften the guns in order to get people to talk about how they felt about them. They are metallic and black inks, markers, and watercolor prints on paper.

The Guns: McDonald’s Massacre (1984) 13 d., Columbine (1999) 16 d., Pulse Massacre (2016) 58 d., and Sandy Hook (2012) 28 d., accompanied by the lips painting: Talk About It.