Goose Lore

Published 2023-03-07

The shackle is an experimental printmaking project that uses drypoint etching to explore
the temporal wear that people face in institutional settings. From (date) to May, the time of my
graduation from the University of Hartford, I walked around campus, attended classes and went
about my daily life while the 6-by-8 inch copper plate was tied to the back of my left shoe. Three
times a week, I would untie the plate, which was attached by a bit of string, and flatten it the
best I could with pliers before applying black ink to the plate and printing the process of its wear
and tear.
As the project continued, my relationship with the plate became incredibly complicated,
as I felt like it was a part of me. Whenever the string broke, I would talk to it before reattaching it,
sometimes throwing it out of frustration. The few times I went out without it felt strangely lonely.
At the same time, I hated its presence: the shackle bruised my right leg while I walked, it
affected how I moved and how I interacted with the people around me. Accommodations can
only do so much in the face of such a system.
At the same time as I was doing this project, I was suffering greatly. I welcomed the
bruises that the shackle gave me because it felt like a reminder of the blood inside of me. I was
constantly screaming inside, and the shackle was a physical and symbolic representation of the
pain I felt tethered to as a student. In the same way that people would ask me why I had the
shackle on, I would ask myself what the point was to go through a system that doesn’t see you
as human just to be pushed out the other end with a degree.
Only after I graduated did I realize the shackle would keep following me, even when I
stopped wearing it.

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