Just over a decade ago, Terrance Wise was working long hours at two jobs making just $7.25 an hour — and he still wasn’t making ends meet.
So, Wise became part of what was then a budding labor group, joining hundreds of other low-wage workers who held protest signs, handed out flyers and toted giant banners through the streets of Kansas City. Now, those items are part of a new exhibit at the Charlotte Street Foundation.
“We often read about heroes in books, whether it's the Civil Rights movement in Dr. Martin Luther King or Susan B. Anthony,” Wise said. “But to actually be the face of a worker’s movement here in our very own city, and have our own history in an exhibit to show what we've accomplished is something otherworldly.”
The new exhibit, “Stand Up Fight Back: Designing an Anti-Racist Movement for Worker Power,” showcases full-size street banners, silkscreen posters and dozens of event flyers used in rallies by the local fast food and retail workers’ group Stand Up KC. Alongside them are photographs, videos, and cell phone images created by workers that offer an intimate look at daily working life for many people in the metro.
The exhibit’s Jan. 17 opening felt like a rally. Speakers recalled former strikes, civil disobedience actions and time spent in jail in pursuit of better work conditions.
Wise, now a leader with Stand Up KC and the Missouri Workers Center, was among around 100 workers on hand who once carried the many signs covering the gallery walls — one display even includes a shirt plucked from his closet.
Wise said being surrounded by the art that defined the movement feels like an achievement, now that Missouri’s minimum wage has increased from $13.75 to $15 an hour as of January.
“It feels like a great accomplishment to see that average, ordinary workers like myself — a fast food worker — can be a big part of history here in Kansas City,” Wise said.
Vivid red shirts and blocky white lettering
The show centers on imagery from Stand Up KC’s anti-racist, working-class advocacy, dominated by the vivid red shirts and blocky white lettering that has come to define public demonstrations for the group since 2011.
The bold designs were created by tyler galloway, a professor and chair of the graphic design department at the Kansas City Art Institute.
“I have a love for all things social justice, in terms of my design practice,” galloway said, “so it was kind of a dream for me to be able to work on those things.”
Normally, items like posters and banners are used for a single day or march, and are often damaged or discarded in the process. Showcased in Charlotte Street’s gallery, though, they help illustrate how design can communicate a lasting record of a movement that might otherwise be ephemeral, galloway said.
“They did a really great job — partly out of economic necessity — because they (Stand Up KC) spent good money to have good quality things made,” galloway said. “The banners were printed digitally onto canvas and the posters were silk-screened on this nice cardstock, so they wanted to keep all that stuff, and they reused it and reused it.”
Gallery manager Kimi Kitada admits an exhibit of protest posters is unusual for the venue, but it aligns with the organization’s mission of supporting artists and creating shows that are ambitious and timely.
"Charlotte Street is pretty ingrained with the community,” Kitada said. “We do a lot of programming in our space that really thinks about the artist's role, and interrogates what artists can do even beyond their artistic practice.”
And Charlotte Street’s public programs in January include a protest poster-making workshop led by galloway that will explore the history of signs created for advocacy.
“I think about the number of protests and marches that happened in the last few months — it's just so urgent right now,” Kitada says.
As he was pulling out material for the show, galloway said, he was still inspired by their message.
“I hope that when people see it, they'll be reminded of what a vital movement that this was and continues to be,” galloway said. “The fight is not over by any means, and so my main hope is that people will come away inspired and ready to keep up the battle.”
“Stand Up Fight Back: Designing an Anti-Racist Movement for Worker Power,” through Saturday, Feb. 28 at Charlotte Street Foundation, 333 Wyoming St., Kansas City, Missouri 64111. For more information, visit the Charlotte Street website.
