Ellis Angel’s Angry Loom

By Will Novosedlik

For this piece in response to the growth in censorship by far-right citizen groups in the US, the artist took 13 books from the American Library Association’s Top 10 Banned Books of 2022 and 2023, shredded them and wove the pieces together on a custom frame. 

Isaac Asimov said it best: “Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.”

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with great works of literature from the last 100 years would likely agree that titles like George Orwell’s 1984, Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and James Joyce’s Ulysses are all iconic examples of literary greatness. They are also among the ten most banned books of the last century.

Any book that addresses themes of racism, sexuality, and gender is likely in the gunsights of one far-right pressure group or another. In America, the most notorious groups include Moms for Liberty, Citizens Defending Freedom, and Parents’ Rights in Education. Moms for Liberty was launched in Florida in 2021 and now has 284 chapters nationwide. In Canada we have Action4Canada, Parents for Choice in Education (PCE), and Take Back Alberta. 

The pressure exerted by groups like these is matched by a growing number of state governments south of the border and at least one provincial government here in Canada. Alberta’s United Conservative Party courted controversy earlier this year by introducing new guidelines for what books may be allowed on the shelves of school libraries. A total of 41 out of 63 school districts complied, resulting in a total of 170 titles being banned from their shelves. 

Even something as innocent as Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen does not escape the censor’s cut. In the original printed version, Mickey is fully naked. Evidently, school librarians have been using white-out – or in this case, black ink – to cover up the little toddler’s penis. 

According to PEN America, book bans have been on a roll since it began tracking them in 2021. In the 2023-24 school year alone 10,000 bans took place across America – twice that of the year before. PEN International is on a mission to fight back, first by tracking bans, then reporting on them, and by launching a number of grassroots anti-ban campaigns designed to put a spotlight on this growing threat to freedom of expression.

One artist who has been involved with PEN in the fight for literary freedom is New York-based Ellis Angel, who has created a unique approach to political protest art. When we think of protest art, we think of simple, bold statements that are meant to deliver their message immediately. They are not designed for contemplation. But Angel’s work demands closer study, challenging the viewer to dig a little deeper, not only to grasp the full meaning of Angel’s message, but also to marvel at the high degree of craft employed to deliver it. Because the scale of the work is so intimate, you need to get up close and personal in order to fully appreciate Angel’s masterful blend of sensory and intellectual content. 

Angel, who has a M.A. in English, always loved both reading and making. The artist had tried many different arts and crafts but it wasn’t until attending the 2018 Women’s March in DC that a unique inspiration presented itself. Says Angel, “I went to the Women's March in DC. Afterwards the streets were just littered with discarded posters. And I was like, man, it's a pity that all of these voices are just left there. So I took them home. Along the way, I found a large frame somebody had left in the trash. And I was like, I'm going to make something out of that –  something super gaudy, atrocious, gold, and over the top – just like Trump. And so I painted it gold and I shredded the constitution and I shredded a bunch of money – the thing that he likes the most, you know? I wove it all together and submitted it to an open call on the Lower East Side. It got it in, and I've been kind of going from there.”

In a flagrant violation of the US constitution, Trump has earned an estimated $3.4 billion since the start of his second term in office. In protest, Angel shredded a copy of the constitution and wove it together with shredded bits of US dollar bills to craft this compelling critique of what must surely be the most corrupt administration in US history.

Then Angel took those Women's March posters, shredded them and wove them together and submitted those with great success as well. The series went on tour through out COVID. “I'm just trying to interact with what's going on that I'm angry about,” says Angel, thus revealing the key motivation for all political art.

The Don’t Mourn, Organize weaving is a collection of found protest posters from the January 20, 2018 Women’s March mentioned above. An exercise in deconstruction and reconstitution, the piece unites diverse fragments and voices in an act of visual solidarity. 

It’s interesting to remember that, as Angel notes on the ellisangel.com website, “using an artform that has historically belonged to women, weaving seems a fitting way to bring these voices together, document a movement, and let these posters circulate and continue their message for change.” Anger can be a beautiful thing.

Will Novosedlik is a Toronto-based writer, designer and editor. He is known for a critical perspective on the socioeconomic impact of design, advertising and marketing.