CULTURE

to eradicate us?

Our blood is on the bystander’s hands”

As an artistic statement, Schmitt used the project to capture a specific moment in time. Its interactive and evolving nature made it something of a performance to them, and displayed Schmitt’s compulsivity as an artist.

“The haphazard chaoticness of the hangings and the writings is meant to reflect how it feels to know all this stuff and be hearing all this stuff, and watching it get worse and worse and worse, but you still have people that it goes right over their heads because they don’t have to think about it,” Schmitt says.

Schmitt has personal connections to the issue. Firstly, they’re part of the queer community.

“I don’t consider myself to be trans, but gender is something that I’ve questioned,” Schmitt says.

Ultimately, they find it unimportant.

“People should be able to just be who they are and not have to be defined by their gender”

Perhaps more importantly for Schmitt, though, one of their closest friends is trans.

“Seeing someone first-hand go through all of the joys and horrors of being a trans person in this world just inspires me and makes me want to protect more people like him because I care about him,” Schmitt says.

While such a personal connection has been a motivating factor for Schmitt, they think that apathy from those without any such connection to the issue is one of the most dangerous things of all — ultimately, that apathy is what they hoped to fight with their public piece.

“It’s not the people that are hateful that necessarily allow for these things to go down, it’s the people that don’t believe it’ll ever get that bad,” Schmitt says, “And it’s the people that it doesn’t matter to them, it doesn’t affect them, they don’t have to care. It’s the people that, you know… just walk on by.”