Since the spring of 2019, my work has revolved around the creation of activist prints using traditional methods of printmaking. I started treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the summer of 2019, and this inspired me to face this problem head-on using my artwork. Through this process of art-making, I refined my body of work to focus specifically on bringing awareness to what the disorder is and what it isn’t. My work is mostly abstract, colorful, non-objective imagery that I hand-print text on top of.
The text is based on facts and statistics, an influence I pulled from the Guerilla Girls and their protest posters. I print my posters using a mixture of multiple methods of printmaking. A lot of the colorful abstract imagery is done using screenprinting or monoprinting, while the text is done exclusively using block printing. The reason I always anchor my pieces with these abstract designs is to depict the feelings of OCD while also having the work remain objective. The non-objective, painterly background designs are based on my emotion, while the text is entirely fact-based. I like to use block printing for the text because I can write the words out using my own handwriting, making the text more imperfect and raw. The goal of my work is to bring awareness to the realities of OCD to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to understand it and to bring a sense of understanding and solidarity to the other people who have it as well.
Lindsey Knipe, 2020