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It's Better To Be Anything But a Straight White Man Right Now (Karl in Drag), 2021
2021
Digital poster
1 of 5 from
Straight White Working Class (Blue Collar)
Phone screenshot gifted by the subject, manipulated by the artist
1080 x 1920px jpeg RGB colour
2 May 2021
Commissioned by Diageo
Leeds & Newcastle UK; Detroit & Philadelphia USA.
The artworks in the series
Straight White Working Class
are derived from conversations with 18 men in the post-industrial cities of Leeds and Newcastle in the UK and Philadelphia and Detroit in the USA.
The texts are based on verbatim comments from the men and all images in the series were gifted to the artist by the men from their personal archives.
It's Better To Be Anything But a Straight White Man Right Now (Karl in Drag)
is a humorous exploration of the prevailing sentiment that it is now less advantageous to be a straight white man as other interest groups receive greater attention and support.
A surprising number of the contributors to the
Straight White Working Class
series had experimented with drag and were willing to share images of their alter egos.
The example from Karl in Detroit was the best and most committed of all. Karl also gifted multiple images of his tattoos and his gun collection.
