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Molly Crabapple’s Time Capsule of Resistance

A new set of note cards by the artist and writer documents scenes of protest in the 21st century.

I’ve spent the past 15 years traveling around the world and documenting history as it happens. I use my sketch pad the way a photojournalist might use their camera: to capture scenes of protest, celebration, repression, and revolt. OR Books has gathered some of my favorite pieces for a collectible note-card set, titled Can You See the New World Through the Teargas? Use these cards to write love letters or ransom notes. Or get them framed for your wall. And remember: Every handwritten letter is a rebellion against Silicon Valley dystopia.

The pictures in this set range from kids playing with their kitten in the Aida Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, to a showtime dancer doing backflips in a New York City subway car, to images from the trial of Luigi Mangione. For all of them, I tried to use the lessons I first learned at 20 while sketching next to the stages of underground nightclubs. Each fleet-­footed second is a universe of impossible richness. Look hard. Draw fast. Be ruthless. Get it right.

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Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer for outlets including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The New York Review of Books. She is the author of Drawing Blood and National Book Award–nominated Brothers of the Gun, with Marwan Hisham. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

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