![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/79e39b6e-da7a-4140-bb4a-a7fbf4452c85_rw_1200.jpg?h=13bf5a7dc50402d39befdc9cc94a541a)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/f6d17b2a-3a97-42be-b08c-1a1574b55e49_rw_3840.jpg?h=bfd81b664769fdee524e77a7cd1afe40)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/1836105e-5757-484d-8005-7afaf322d1bf_rw_3840.jpg?h=9cc739e98c58066859b17786e87f99b1)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/0dc80c1b-d3a5-431b-8b27-a5ba62fe2e38_rw_3840.jpg?h=dfacae5bc7a592f2afcf4159ff31c600)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/fa0188e9-6d25-4ec3-ae6a-7c724a619989_rw_3840.jpg?h=92e86d82c7096b19c557e9f8d792a6ec)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/29ab8d83-cf02-430b-bd05-3b8e5204aaed_rw_3840.jpg?h=7f8fa3cd623b3680fb5fd2177990be72)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/09d0a779-2451-402e-9ea9-481620c15257_rw_3840.jpg?h=5b34d3629f16267d04e3a75bbba06e69)
Serendipity
—
—
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/a85e2650-ef64-4945-9b77-4142280d5052_rw_1920.jpg?h=7478f6566429be4db30d6ab098b7bb59)
At my brother Patrick’s house in Brooklyn when Lindsay called me with the brief.
Posters in the background from 1997/98, I have had some time to think on the topic…
Shout out to The Visual Mafia and my mentor James Victore.
Posters in the background from 1997/98, I have had some time to think on the topic…
Shout out to The Visual Mafia and my mentor James Victore.
First round of concept sketches
—
—
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/8190ec2b-ae20-4947-bc16-232e90d3b8ea_rw_600.jpg?h=e7e7f8adea1f82a0e1ea1871e2e9a765)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/017d08db-93e4-44cc-8fcd-720983b70274_rw_600.jpg?h=7cd9ff94b961bc5854955e7c00625cb1)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/97244be5-b1d6-4be8-b419-24d11ee2d7e7_rw_600.jpg?h=669208a6edb23cccd11f02ec04564c94)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/475e26a8-53f0-4c18-96f9-9ed3119eda19_rw_600.jpg?h=cb0a40655c9054c407f7e574a5d31b19)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/d60177ba-df7a-48a6-b6b0-280f825c256d_rw_600.jpg?h=b45ddcae952385b4c3bee1c748416e3d)
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/985d94de-e4dc-4ff8-b493-e597de68e2e7_rw_600.jpg?h=8f0ff387a29994881125b9d201629751)
Outtakes
—
—
During my making images for The Baffler, I created this image below Mickey's hands, making an OK gesture.
I loved and laughed aloud at the hand gesture's juxtaposition on an arm, removed from a body.
I intended to foster a relationship to (cultural) cannibalism in the image, not unlike literary fiction has done through the ages, to describe and critique various exploitative economies from Industrial England to the trans-Atlantic slave trade - to Walt Disney’s empire.
—
Ultimately, I wanted to question, humorously, if everything in the Disney empire was still, in fact, OK?
—
Next, Lindsay opened up my understanding that hate groups had co-opted this hand signalling. I quickly stopped laughing. It no longer meant things were going well. Instead, it has now become a display of white pride used by actors in racist, right-wing movements.
I loved and laughed aloud at the hand gesture's juxtaposition on an arm, removed from a body.
I intended to foster a relationship to (cultural) cannibalism in the image, not unlike literary fiction has done through the ages, to describe and critique various exploitative economies from Industrial England to the trans-Atlantic slave trade - to Walt Disney’s empire.
—
Ultimately, I wanted to question, humorously, if everything in the Disney empire was still, in fact, OK?
—
Next, Lindsay opened up my understanding that hate groups had co-opted this hand signalling. I quickly stopped laughing. It no longer meant things were going well. Instead, it has now become a display of white pride used by actors in racist, right-wing movements.
With this newfound knowledge in hand, publishing this illustration didn’t make sense alongside The Magic Kingdom.
—
But it does make sense to publish this illustration, here and now, a few months following an insurrection where white supremacists stormed The Capital building at the behest of the 45th president.
![](https://cdn.myportfolio.com/81a06f33-ca0b-4fee-94ef-093704a3ded8/a1f437b5-7fbb-463b-85d4-2dd9c08ebb25_rw_1920.jpg?h=a76078d86a4838b6a5800f8b75df5d2c)