Shaun Slifer

Pittsburgh-based artist Shaun Slifer has been making creative rubbings of historical markers since 2018.

Selecting only certain words and phrases, he focuses on plaques that sidestep colonialism, state oppression, and military violence with truncated accounts that marginalize the motivation and origin of popular revolts, disregard whole communities, and other acts of erasure. Each piece in this ongoing series is created on-site in a deliberately visible, public performance: using handmade earth pigment crayons and wearing a high-vis fluorescent vest, Slifer makes these rubbings during daylight hours wearing a simple costume that gives the suggestion of a municipal worker.