An Abridged Sonic History of Global Conflict

In 2015, a controversy raged around the Calgary band then known as "Viet Cong", and their decision to adopt a name so fraught with trauma, violence, nationalism, and imperialism. In observing the controversy, I contemplated both the costs of such a choice, and the rock music traditions of which it is the obvious continuation. "An Abridged Sonic History of Global Conflict" is the resulting compilation of musical bands named for wars, including acts of war, armed uprisings, military figures, and siege weapons.

As I continue to grow my list of these through research, I use that history to inform my choices as I design an embroidered patch for each, grouping them by relevant conflict—the Vietnam-American War, World War I, the Postwar Period, and so on. They are thus reconnected to the violence of their etymologies. After all, patches are how we demonstrate our belonging and our position within a subculture, whether as a Private First Class or as a fan of obscurely niche death metal...while the bodies they adorn onstage in a rock show (young adult, mostly male) are the same bodies we traditionally send to kill and die (young adult, mostly male).

Special thanks to Jonathan Moneta and MakeLab Studio.

Click here to access a .pdf of the exhibition catalogue; essays by Jen Hutton and Ted Barris.