1 1

Sming Sming Books

This is Not A Gun by Cara Levine

This is Not A Gun by Cara Levine

$32.00 USD
$32.00 USD
Sale Sold out

Third Edition: ISBN 978-1-953189-09-7
February 2023, English, 5 x 10.5 in, 288 pages, b&w, softcover
Design: Sming Sming Books
Printing & Production: For the Birds Trapped in Airports
Co-published with For the Birds Trapped in Airports!

This Is Not a Gun gathers contributions from 40 artists, writers, healers, and activists who each respond to 40 objects that police officers have mistaken for guns, during a shooting of an unarmed civilian. The project opens dialogue to consider how everyday objects, such as a broomstick, bible, set of keys, iPod, sunglasses, and a pack of Skittles are transformed into ones of perceived threat through the lens of racism and power.

This Is Not a Gun is part of a long-term, multidisciplinary project by the same name, which endeavors to carve out time and space for community to site these issues within our own bodies and stories. The project, by artist Cara Levine, includes a studio practice of carving wooden sculptures of these mistaken-as-gun objects, as well as public workshops to discuss where participants shape these objects in clay, giving presence to their form, the human-rights violations, and racism prevalent in the United States today. Visit thisisnotagun.com for more information.

Foreword by Cara Levine and introduction by Elena Gross. Contributors include: Kemi Adeyemi, Jessica Angima, Sampada Aranke, Quenton Baker, Shamell Bell, Gregory Boyle, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Elizabeth Dorbad, Amanda Eicher, Ekaette Ekong, Guillermo Galindo, Faye Gleisser, Sonia Guiñansaca, Angela Hennessy, Constance Hockaday, Jessica Ingram, Kate Johnson, Chris Johnson, Christopher Johnson, Ann Lewis, Rodney Lucas, Eliza Myrie, Keni Nooner, Kambui Olujimi, sidony o’neal, Candice Price, Kirat Randhawa, Will Rawls, Joshua Ross, Bayeté Ross-Smith, Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle, Jadelynn Stahl, Ashley Stull Meyers, Khadija Tarver, Jade Thacker, Prophet Walker, Leila Weefur, Amir Whitaker, Marvin K. White, and Christine Wong Yap.

Cara Levine is an artist, educator, and activist based in Los Angeles. Levine is the founder of This Is Not a Gun, a multidisciplinary project aimed at creating awareness, dialogue, and action around systematic racism through art practice. She is an associate adjunct professor in Sculpture New Genres and Foundations at Otis College of Art and Design.

 

Info for Institutional Collections

If you are ordering for your institutional library outside of California, our website should allow you to checkout without tax. If you are ordering from within California, please reach out to us: studio[at]forthebirdstrappedinairports.com, and we will provide you with a tax-free invoice for your order. Thank you for this accommodation.

Caring for Books

Books made by hand are generally going to be more resilient than books made by machine, but in either case: the nicer you are to them, the longer they'll last in the condition you bought them in.

Depending on your location, the moisture of that environment may cause slight curling in the board and papers. If so, the materials are adjusting to your environment, and if you left the journal under weight in that environment for 24-48 hours, that issue should resolve itself. This acclimation process is something many libraries conduct when getting new books for their shelves.

Did you scuff or mark your book cover? Don't put soap or water on it! Get a rubber cement pick up and gently rub the mark off of the area. You may not be able to get all of it, but, most of the time, it gets the job done!

Shipping & Returns

SHIPPING

We take great care in the packing of our orders and offer UPS and USPS shipping options. UPS will usually go out in 1-2 days. USPS orders will go out the next Friday.

HANDMADE ITEMS

If extreme circumstances cause the order to be damaged along its way to you, we can offer a discount for the inconvenience, but we are often unable to offer total refunds or replacements due to the handmade nature of our products.

View full details

  • Support artists through our Patreon

    Our business is driven by finding various methods to support artists so that they can work less and find stability through their creative work. To learn more deeply about our motivations and approaches, you can support us on Patreon and receive monthly benefits.

    Support us + support artists 

  • Disclaimer for Handmade Products

    Please note the estimated production time for pre-orders and products that are made to order will always be noted in the product description. Things may be delayed at times, often caused by paper shortages or potential harms in rushing handmade labor. We assure you that your order will make it to you. Thank you for your patience.

For the Birds Trapped in Airports is a publishing studio making books in collaboration with arts workers.

Our studio is structurally designed to foster relationships between peers that are based in collective support of one another’s well-being.

Learn more.