JIGGERS AND FISTS
Our Fishermen need our support.
Generations of men and women have risked (and many have lost) their lives on the unforgiving cold North Atlantic Ocean, only to come ashore and have to battle big corporations, globalists and even their own government to continue earning a living at sea.
When their chance came to fight again for their rights and discuss their concerns with our current ‘national leader’ recently in St. John’s, he locked them out and stifled their voices from any media attention. The lack of respect and dignity afforded to these hard working people was staggering and unacceptable to me.
Grabbing a stack of old sketchbooks, I rooted through the pages for an old sketch I had done about 25 years ago, quickly drawn in response to a similar situation.
Original Fist & Jigger thumbnail sketch circa 2000
At that time, the moratorium was in full effect, and Newfoundland fishermen were not allowed to fish their own waters. But I learned from an export/importer that just off Newfoundland, our government allowed Chinese and other foreign vessels to fish our Grand Banks, and insultingly, sell that fish back to us.
Filled with the fire to expose an injustice, I did the only thing I could as an artist. I hastily threw a thought into a sketch, trying to capture something to rally behind.
The intention was to spread it as graffiti around town under the cover of dark, hoping the Old Republic fighting spirit would be sparked. Maybe it would unite people to fight for their rich resource and become masters of their own destinies (like Iceland had done), separate and immune from Ottawa’s self interests. ‘Viva La Revolucion!’ and all that. (Ah, the high hopes and naivete of youth).
But practicality and the desire to avoid any legal entanglements held my passionate and more impulsive side in check, and thankfully, the vertical surfaces of St. John’s were spared.
Final finished image.
Today however, there are healthier and much easier ways to get a message out to the world. So tapping into that old inspiration, I reworked the original sketch and found the theme led to a series of images and logos that spoke just as loud as the original graffiti sketch. Now a message could be seen, and repeated endlessly, despite media or government’s efforts to silence voices.
But, something was missing. That fiery rebel spirit laid out in the original sketch all those years ago still felt unexpressed, and it was poking at me.
Maybe it’s the GenX in me. Maybe it’s the latent anger that was provoked again after 25 years. Maybe it’s just my disdain for the cultural communist puppets that are pretending to lead and care for us. Or maybe I just wanted the last word. But this project didn’t feel finished until I had flipped the bird at all those fish merchants, crooks, governments and nations that have made obscene wealth for over 500 years off of Newfoundland’s Grand Banks. So I sketched up two last images that the younger me would approve of.
This one finger salute is waved high and loud with the weight of lost lives, injustice and persistence of ancestors behind it. It is a reminder that it is the fishermen that feed the world’s insatiable hunger for fish, not CEOs or governments in cubicles.
So to all those in positions of power selling out their people and their country: It is time to be better, and do better. Until then, this is vigourously and openly directed at you …with all due respect of course. Don’t take it personal though, it’s just the rant of one mad artist.
If you’d like to browse through available hoodies, caps and T shirts, you can find them here: Fisherman’s Collection Newfoundland Collection
