131

The 1995 Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service found the force to be engaged in money laundering, drug trafficking, evidence tampering, fraud, various forms of assault, and serious engagement within pedophile networks. In the last five years, the NSW Police Force found over 5000 officers engaged in misconduct. Since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, there have been 582 Indigenous deaths in custody. 

The police force since its inception has been saturated with corruption and abuse. 

‘131’ is a three-panel block print utilising black ink and digital inversion, featuring the popular phrase, “I smell bacon, I smell grease.” Printmaking has a long radical history given its ability to efficiently and cost-effectively replicate and distribute protest art. Historically acting in opposition to capitalist modes of production and dissemination. With each ink roll, I think of those wronged by the police system. With each carving, I think of those lost in the grips of the police system. 

The police force needs to be defunded, dismantled, and abolished. No justice, no peace.