press 2

HYPERALLERGIC July 29 2020

by Allison Conner

“The following pages and their attendant objects are an archive of misrecognition,” writes Elena Gross in her introduction to This Is Not a Gun, a book project organized around objects “mistaken” for guns by police officers during shootings of unarmed Black or brown people. Edited by artist Cara Levine and co-published by Sming Sming Books and Candor Arts, the book invited 40 artists, activists, and healers to respond to each of these objects, and is an extension of a long-term, multidisciplinary project of the same name. There are essays, poems, silkscreen prints, lyrics, illustrations, texts, and typographic flourishes. All contributors were given the same writing prompt by Levine, which encouraged them to choose an item that held personal significance, using it as a creative gateway for their own thoughts, unbounded by formal restrictions. Levine also sent along news articles detailing the various shooting incidents and their victims.

Flaunt Magazine November 30 2020

by Taina Millsap

Cara Levine, artist, educator, and activist based in Los Angeles is the founder of This Is Not a Gun, a multidisciplinary project aimed at creating awareness, dialogue, and action around systematic racism through art practice. 

This is Not a Gun consists of a collaboration between 40 artists, writers, healers and activists in which they respond to 40 objects that police have mistaken for guns. The project is set to start a conversation about regular objects that can be seen as a threat if looked at through the lens of racism.

The project includes a studio practice where Levine carves wooden sculptures of these objects as identified by a list published by Harper’s Magazine in December 2016, titled Trigger Warning: A list of objects that were mistaken for guns during shootings of civilians by police in the United States since 2001. In addition, public workshops are held focused on making these objects out of clay and further discussing the story and implications behind it.