INDECLNE issues statement on Trump-in-jail art installed at Trump Hotel

On March 30th, 2018, INDECLINE, an activist art collective secretly installed an art exhibit into a rented hotel suite at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City.

The exhibit “The People’s Prison” depicts Donald Trump in a prison cell surrounded by American flags.

INDECLINE issued this statement about their work:

“The imprisoned [Trump] is not so much the focus of, “The People’s Prison.” Rather, the place aspires to present a more positive view of justice. Surrounding a single cell are a jury of what a selection of artists considered to be some of our greatest peers, painted directly onto the flags they labored to make stand for something greater.

“INDECLINE wants to suggest that freedom is not so much strengthened by the intolerant bigots who might test it, but rather those who test them…those who are willing to risk everything up to life and limb to stand when others might just kneel out of convenience. But history is bigger than any given season, and historically, the greatest heroes have stood for something deeper than politics.

“Our biggest concerns is that we, as American citizens – but also on an even deeper level, as Global Citizens – not forget that we are all stranded here on this rock together, and that the greatest crime committed by President Trump is his attempt to profit from and exacerbate the kind of divisiveness that safeguards a true and natural democracy, one that attempts to protect all of its members equally, not draw lines that become margins where those least-represented financially can be quietly swept away.

“We are not purists at INDECLINE. We are not above the occasional joke, a heavy dose of irreverence, or just plain smart-assedness, but we are not politicos either. And we don’t have much use for laws that don’t take much consideration for us, for our brothers or our sisters in whatever shape or form.

“So, lock him up or don’t lock him up. That won’t suddenly solve all of our problems as a people. But we do want to remind him that history is watching his every move as well, no matter what happens with Mueller, with congress, with the voters. And history doesn’t have maximum sentences.”

“When they are hungry enough, rats will eat anything, even lies. But then what will they eat when the lies no longer sustain them, and all that is left is their rat king?” – INDECLINE

Watch a video on the creation of the protest art below…