INTERVIEW WITH NOOCH DESIGN CO.

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Nooch Design Co is the work of Meneka Repka, a digital illustrator and teacher from Calgary. The artist achieves a colourful and playful juxtaposition of sugar-coated animal illustrations with anti-capitalist positions. Radicalized by reading in graduate school, they were drawn to critical traditions in literature, Marx, Kropotkin, Fanon and Foucault. She was interested in other ways and approaches to thinking about justice. Consistent in her art is the connection between human and animal issues. 

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Animals, Food and Capital

“I love looking at the interconnections between animals, humans and the earth...looking at resisting systems of oppression. All of those things I think come through in my work.” 

 

“I think the liberation of animals is entangled with the liberation of humans. And it’s the same systems that keep non-human animals oppressed as the systems that keep humans oppressed. You have the exploitation of slaughterhouse workers who tend to be migrant workers, or immigrants or refugees and those people are exploited horribly as well.”

 

“I think one of the biggest critiques of veganism from the left is that veganism as a whole is classist or inaccessible and that there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. To some extent all of these things are true.  Our capitalist system of food as a whole is deeply problematic and unjust, so doing the most that we can to make the best choices that we can, I think, demands consideration of veganism.” 

  

“Food should be free for everyone, people shouldn’t have to work or prove that their labour has monetary value in order to eat or have any other fundamental right.”

 

Covid and Capital

Capitalism Is A Death Cult is a commissioned collaboration with Mexie, a leftist Youtuber.  “We have very similar perspectives and values so it was a really good fit. She was really interested in this phenomenon of people who are convinced through engrained narratives and propaganda, that it’s in their interest to participate in capitalism at the expense of their own lives and the lives of people around them. So this is when people are pushing to go back to work instead of for instance pushing for paid leave from work during a pandemic. So, it’s really like this brainwashing of large swaths of people to truly believe that their value is in the capitalist machine and that they’re willing to sacrifice their own lives as long as they still have capitalism, patriotism and militarism and things like that.”

Targeted Private Property Destruction: Instigating Social Change?

“That one was actually so controversial, I got a lot of private messages about that one. My support of targeted property destruction comes from a few different things which are laid out in a little more detail there. The physical destruction of a particular area or a community is representative of that community’s distrust with the state’s capacity to serve their needs or their interests. Typically people will not destroy their ‘quote-unquote’ neighborhoods, they’ll target big corporations who are infiltrating their neighbourhoods. That’s typically who is impacted because they have the biggest influence. Another reason is that usually, the destruction of property is a last resort, when people are so frustrated and exasperated from trying to have meaningful negotiations and peaceful protests, and none of those things have had any meaningful effect, that people turn to destroying property because the state cares more about property than they do about human lives. And so it’s the only way to get the attention of the state.”

 

“Burning symbols of authority are a way to signal the downfall of capitalism, police, etc.”

 

On The Taking Down of Sir John A Macdonald Statue

“I definitely support the toppling of that statue. Obviously, he was racist and supported residential schools, and is definitely not the type of person that should have a statue. I think the toppling of the statue was completely justified. I will say though that there have been numerous statues that have been toppled. But I don’t think symbolic acts like this should be the focus of our action. I think it’s also important to not be satisfied just with the toppling of a statue and to actually continue fighting for real systemic change. I just hope people don’t get distracted by these symbols of ‘justice’ that ultimately have no impact on policy and regulations. So, as long as we’re doing both, and we’re continuing to fight for changes in policy, things like defunding the police and reinvesting that money into community programs and really pressing on people in power to make those changes.” 

 

ACAB

“All cops are bastards. The word bastard actually means bastardized, which means corrupt. And so, it’s a reference to the entire system of policing being corrupt. That comes from, in the States especially, the police being slave catchers, and literally being created to control the bodies of those who aren’t white. Of course, there are some cops, like your uncle might be a nice guy, but at the end of the day, nice cops are not arresting the ‘bad apples’. And if they’re not really doing anything and they’re being complicit in it, then they’re just as guilty within the system. The system as a whole creates an environment where you have to be corrupt in order to be one of them, It’s a culture that's created.” 

 

Post-Capitalism

“Small communities of people with networks of interconnection between them, restructuring of all systems, decolonize our minds, technological automation. No gaps between the wealthy and the poor; nurturing mutual collaboration and assistance and the understanding that the strength of the community is also the strength of the individual. I try to be hopeful...I think you have to be a little bit hopeful. I guess you could say I’m cautiously hopeful.”

 

Mutual Aid: The Plover and The Crocodile

“When we look to the animal kingdom there’s this perception that it’s completely ruthless, that animals are self-interested... but as Kropotkin has noted, there’s actually quite a bit of mutual aid in animal communities. Typically animal communities that are collaborative, and aid one another, those are the communities that tend to survive and adapt in a variety of different conditions. So, we can think of human communities in the same way. First of all, human communities can learn a lot from animals, and we can be mutual in our aid of animals, there’s a lot that animals can do for us too. But then also, just being more mutually collaborative with one another, we can share resources, we can share ideas of knowledge. I think those things are important in building community, and the stronger communities are, the more equipped we will be to resist oppressive forces.”

 

Charity vs Mutual Aid

“Charity is a person in power or with more material wealth just giving something to another person or community and it creates a cycle of dependence, where people are not empowered to create their own systems of wealth or growing food or whatever it might be. With a mutual aid system, it would be more like a sharing of not only wealth, but maybe ideas, and implementing long term programs  to help either the individual or the community be more resilient long term.”

 

Art and Resistance

“I think art definitely has an important function in the resistance. Art itself documents someone’s perception of reality often. Art can document what is happening. It can represent the chaos of a particular time period. Also, there have been many examples of artists who have been recruited to work under fascist regimes but find really small ways to resist. For example, there have been circumstances where artists were not allowed to paint the faces of people. So, those particular artists painted over the faces using watercolor paint on top of oil paint (watercolour can easily be taken off of an oil painting). So, little forms of resistance like that have been happening. I think art in general has always been political. It’s about making a statement oftentimes or challenging existing narratives or existing dialogues that may be unjust, through art. Art also gives people another way of seeing things. It often shows the same thing in a different way, or it shows something different in the same way.”​

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*Artwork by Nooch Design Co.  

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