This issue has been in the works for well over a year. In fact, originally we were going to do a Protest Issue in 2018 and one photo in these pages (of Soccer Mommy) was taken for that failed attempt. We began doing protest sign shoots in earnest in January 2020, starting in London by photographing Miki Berenyi and K.J. “Moose” McKillop of Piroshka in Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament. It’s a location where many protests and demonstrations have occurred over the years, so it felt like a fitting place to start.
We’ve done a was around for, and the concept has always been the same—we photograph musicians holding protest signs of their own making. The original intention was to get this one out in time for last November’s election. Various factors, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, put those plans to waste. Just as we were starting to do protest sign shoots, lockdowns around the world made doing photo shoots tricky. Financial worries also made advertisers initially skittish, which delayed our last issue and consequently pushed back this one as well. But part of me is happy that this issue was finished after the election, as doing a whole Protest Issue in response to former President Donald Trump’s administration and policies seems exhausting, even more so that we now have President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris guiding the ship to calmer waters. Still, some signs (such as those by Phoebe Bridgers and Sharon Van Etten) were clearly aimed at the last administration and the 2020 election.
