The Urban Wilderness Survival Guide

This guide is composed of icons representing the object signifiers many young black men wear on their persons. What signifiers constitute alleged transgressions? What signifiers equate these men with unforeseen violence? What signifiers jam or block signals causing confusion or misinterpretation? Although intended for young black youth to reflect upon the ways their bodies and psyches are read by not only police, but also everyone, this guide speaks to all audiences in confirming the power of semiotics and the ease at which our perceptions of self and other can be categorized. In the spirit of Tibor Kalman, this piece is not mantra or dogma or a testament to how one should view another, but rather an understanding of how signals of culture and demographics are interpreted by all parties—thus exhuming the prejudices within all of us.