ARTIST STATEMENT
A country divided. We all worship different things and no side is equal, but the few at the top blind the many. Our rights are being trampled and our autonomy taken for a promise of riches, power, and salvation. This promise is hollow, but still they pile on their lust to gain and horde, to take until there’s nothing left. They brainwash us and fill us with that lust too. Convince us to turn on each other, to fight amongst ourselves over things that don’t matter. They convince us to hate one another while they steal and drain our planet. The institutions have rotted, the truth they clutch to now is that justice belongs to the few who can afford it. We must topple this corrupt system and take back our rights before we are all crushed under the weight of their god, guns, and gains.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nicci Arnold is a printmaker working out of her home studio, Fingers Crossed Press, located in Belleville, Illinois. She has spent years working in professional print shops including Tom Huck’s Evil Prints, St. Louis from 2015 to 2019, and Normal Editions at Illinois State from 2019 to 2022. With over a decade of experience, Arnold holds a BFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2018 and an MFA from Illinois State University, 2022. Her work pairs dark humor with the graphic nature of printmaking to explore themes of mental health, modern womanhood, activism, and the state of contemporary society. Arnold strives to keep her prints full of wit, a little inappropriate, and affordable for all.
© Nicci Arnold