Crossing Borders, Building Solidarity: Affective Labor in Shaping Coalitional Murals

Abstract

In art worlds, as well as in popular representations of social movements, the product—whether it be a sculpture, painting, or performance for the former; or a demand, legislative win, or march for the latter—is often held as the measure of success for a communicative action. In this article, using the history of the collaborative United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) and Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT; or Authentic Workers’ Front) Cruzando Fronteras (Crossing Borders) solidarity mural project, we excavate the process of public art production as a practice of affective labor (Weeks 236; Federici) in the service of creating coalitional moments (Chávez). In so doing, we join critiques of interdisciplinary scholarship that reduce affective labor to “immaterial” status and question rhetorical scholarship’s preoccupation with the symbolic function of finished works. Instead, we elaborate the background work that goes into making public images. This builds upon already-rich scholarship in rhetoric of labor, feminist studies, affect studies, and Chicana studies.

Keywords:

• Affect
• affective labor
• feminist art
• labor
• muralism
• transnational
• unions

Acknowledgments

The authors note that both contributed equally to the writing of this article. They thank Robin Alexander for sharing her archives and experiences in this project, the anonymous reviewers and editor, and Emily Winderman, Michaela Frischherz, and Kim Singletary for comments on earlier versions of this text.