Wexit - KALTBLUT Magazine

"WEXIT is an original five-look collection touching on the Albertan separatist movement, the conditions necessary to inception and its consequences. More specifically, it explores how fear, anger, uncertainty and abandonment push people to drastic political measures in rural Albertan communities, and how these emotions are manufactured and exploited by the American oil industry."

"On a more macro level, the project uses the Wexit movement as a case study of post-pandemic political polarisation manifested through culture war in North America, the division this creates, how it benefits corporations and how it hurts those outside of them."

"As we see this new political climate manifest itself in extreme political events such as the Freedom Convoy, the January 6th riots and more recently the deployment of ICE throughout the United States, this subject is more relevant than ever."

"Cohen is a Toronto-based designer and digital media artist from Alberta, Canada. His work is inspired by his experience growing up in this incredibly conservative environment, and seeks to retell it through a colourful, campy, fun and highly dramatised lens. In doing so, he hopes to bring this uniquely Albertan condition to the world."

WEXIT is a five-look collection that uses the Albertan separatist movement to examine the conditions that lead to political inception and the consequences that follow. It focuses on how fear, anger, uncertainty, and abandonment push people in rural Albertan communities toward drastic political measures. It also frames these emotions as manufactured and exploited by the American oil industry. On a broader level, the project treats Wexit as a case study of post-pandemic political polarization expressed through culture wars across North America. It connects this polarization to division, corporate benefit, and harm to people outside corporate interests, referencing extreme political events and enforcement actions in the United States.

Read at KALTBLUT Magazine