Caught this one staring at me while walking down 10th to Scarecrow Video. I see you femme. I looked over my shoulder, then at my walking partner, then pointing at myself, all like who—me? Yes you, it said back. I walked past it, perturbed by this sentient sticker. I get it—feeling seen and acknowledge is important. But sometimes I feel like I’d rather be less seen—like when I’m drunk and alone in a Lyft at 3 am with a leering driver. Or walking down the street and an old white woman tells me my shirt is riding up to reveal my giant ass and that I really ought to cover it up, and, hey, when do you think they’ll make invisible boxes we can all anonymously walk around in………anyhow, cool, yes, it me, a femme.
The iridescence of this one got me. There are a lot of things going on with this little sticker. A skeleton (which I’m taking to mean death) is dressed in a “communist” sash, a hat that has “antifa” and a transgender symbol glued on all while carrying an “anarchy” torch and holding a scroll that, at the top, reads “mob law.” Hmmm, I’m here for trans, anti-fascist anarcho-communists but—is this sticker implying that they’ll bring death? Am I being thick? Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments (and if you made this, email me!).
I forgot where I saw this one, but I think I’ve seen this artist’s work on various stickers around the city. This monster is clearly an old person with a fork-like nose. I tried looking for a tag or signature and spent a couple of minutes attempting to read the monster’s left ear for some sort of sign, but came up with nothing.
This one was such a weird placement I had to snap. I found this on 11th Ave while taking the back way to Whole Foods (to eat $10 sushi, I’m a simple woman). I think each word undoes the other—”NC-17″ reminds me of Gaspar Noé films with unsimulated sex scenes (did anyone else watch and feel slightly traumatized by Love?). “Noodz,” the text that accompanies a photo of my weenis that I jokingly send to close friends. Make it make sense!
As always, if any of these stickers belong to you, email me at jkeimig@thestranger.com.
