Abstract
In art worlds, as well as in popular representations of social movements, the product—whether it be a sculpture, painting, or performance for the former; or a demand, legislative win, or march for the latter—is often held as the measure of success for a communicative action. In this article, using the history of the collaborative United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) and Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT; or Authentic Workers’ Front) Cruzando Fronteras (Crossing Borders) solidarity mural project, we excavate the process of public art production as a practice of affective labor (Weeks 236; Federici) in the service of creating coalitional moments (Chávez). In so doing, we join critiques of interdisciplinary scholarship that reduce affective labor to “immaterial” status and question rhetorical scholarship’s preoccupation with the symbolic function of finished works. Instead, we elaborate the background work that goes into making public images. This builds upon already-rich scholarship in rhetoric of labor, feminist studies, affect studies, and Chicana studies.
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