Signs on the Street as “Occupy” Turns One

Occupy did more than grab some headlines and inconvenience workers on Wall Street last year. It blew a hole open in the consciousness of a confused and battered public untethered and afloat in debt, denial, and 700 channels of mind-numbing distraction. As a result of the Occupy Movement and all it’s permutations, in many unexpected ways we woke up – we became enlivened, enraged, enthused, and possibly enlightened.

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Colorful and chaotic and unsettling in all its imperfections, this social awakening on the streets continues to talk to us and we continue to listen, even as powerful forces do everything to convince us that it’s over. If you monitor the messages of Street Art and graffiti, you know that the desire for social and economic justice can be strident and ongoing, and people are pretty pissed off.

Marking the one year anniversary of this citizens movement that has successfully shifted the public discourse and has introduced new terms to the collective vocabulary, here is a collection of images taken by photographer Jaime Rojo during the last year that captures some of the spirit and sentiment of the street.

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS. An artist’s rendering in progress of the scene at Liberty Park during OWS 2011 in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A piece by Street Artist LMNOP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS Window Display at Printed Matter Inc., in Chelsea NYC. 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS. Adam Void . Rami Shamir. (photo © Adam Void)

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This sticker uses an image of a piece by Street Artist Banksy. OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS. Adam Void. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OWS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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