Porkopolis

“Fashion, by which what is really fantastic becomes for a moment the universal.”

Lord Henry, in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

You might think writing here about Swine Flu in June of ‘09 is dated… Journalism news reports of Swine Flu have already faded below the fold or further, though it was only identified in April of this year. But Swine Flu lingers on – the eternal biological mysteries of DNA mutation and re-assortment continue as relentless as the butcher’s blade.

Called by any other of its names, Swine Flu will remain as threatening. It is an influenza virus – one of our most ancient and formidable foes. Influenza forms are not going away. Fortunately, just as Swine Flu was recently fashionable news, so now there are fashions for Swine Flu. And as Swine Flu is entrenched, we had best suit up for the siege.

We humans have a tendency to take the things we fear and subvert them into something less threatening so that we can own that fear. A favorite means to take ownership is to use humor to undermine our fear. Faced with Swine Flu, we laugh about the coming Aporkalypse, Hamageddon, Hamdemic, Pink Plague or Snoutbreak – caricatures of decimation.

And since the designers and devisers of our fashions continue to weave, stitch and cut with full authority, the muse of Hog Haute Couture must soon co-opt our fears and have Swine Flu Fashions consecrated in Paris. For fashion itself is both the child of its time and a viral plague.

Many of the current Swine Flu fashions are beautifully, darkly illustrative of our feigned indifference to both the flu and our imaginings of Dark Ages plague and massive socio-industrial collapse. And so when we see new designs on ties or t-shirts, designs inspired by global panic, we want that subversion of our fear. And conveniently, as shown here, it is something money can buy.

Fashion provides an easy way to embolden yourself. Even those who don’t need to wear a tie, or seldom were t-shirts, may suddenly feel the need to do so, clicking the PayPal link on the checkout page and immediately feeling clothed in armor. And don’t think I’m being cynical. PayPal is paying these folks for my orders, too, as I literally follow suit.

The Swine Flu virus is ubiquitous as its namesake. It is Porcs sans frontières – pork without borders. It can be born around the globe in days and strikes fortuitously with the tactics of a professional partisan. And these fashions we wear out into the world – our armor – are available to almost anyone who sees them on line or on others. And in that manner the message of our feigned indifference gets spread just like, well, just like the virus.

• “I survived the Swine Flu Pandemic” T-shirt by DemoteControl. Get it and “be happier than a disease-free pig in mud”
• “I Swear, it’s just a cold!” T-shirt by mobii.
• “International symbol inspired by global panic” T-shirt by monkeychick, a graphic designer working out of Melbourne.
• Terminal Ties and the H1N1 Snout Mask were by Created by Bethany Shorb, a renegade Detroit artist. They depict the Swine flu viruses attached and replicated at the nodes of six conjoined international airport terminal diagrams.
• “Not Another Swine Flu Cartoon “ by David Stuart, a freelance cartoonist and stay at home Dad often found with three day beard and tatty clothes.
• And for a protective H1N1 Chem Suit kinda’ like what I have illustrated here, try the Partners in grime at New Pig Corporation.

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I recently succumbed the dual influences of self-gratification and the desire to be a mettlesome member of popular culture and created these two images. I would not have chosen this particular medium, except that I discovered a web app that made it fun and easy. The initial inspiration for the app was the Obama HOPE poster from the 2009 U.S. Presidential elections.

Frank Shepard Fairey (b. 1970) is a street artist and graphic designer who created HOPE and a series of other posters supporting Barack Obama’s 2008 candidacy for President. Fairey’s iconic Barack Obama “HOPE” poster has been called “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You!’” [Schjeldahl, Peter]

Now you can indulge yourself with an active part of something greater … Test the waters of the gorilla marketing or the tagging street scene in your own community. Imagine the feelings of empowerment you will enjoy as you mythologize your own countenance, crusade, or just some wanton craze.

The first step towards that empowerment certainly requires that you create an influential and potentially iconic image. And if the rest of your life has put a stiffening hold on your creativity, why not simply modify Fairey’s proven method?

The folks at Paste Magazine have made this easy. They created the web app Obamicon.Me where you can upload an image (or use your web cam) and then “Obamafy” it. The app lets you upload, manipulate and then save your images at their site. You will need to ‘join’ with a password and email address, but then you can view everyone else’s works, vote on the most iconic and create and share a list of favorites.

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