Alex Darocy Photography

Signs positioned to read "I can't breathe" were installed on the City of Santa Cruz's Fishing Rods art installation on the Water Street Bridge. The modification of the artwork is a call for change in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25. The phrase "I can't breathe" was among Floyd's final words as an officer leaned on his neck with his knee to "restrain" him while he was being detained. The words "organize" and "mobilize" are on the backsides of the cards, which communicates a dynamic message when the cards spin on the fishing lines.

Sculptor E.A. Chase, creator of the Collateral Damage sculpture at the Santa Cruz Town Clock, passed away on February 29 at the age of 87. Here Chase speaks with Mathilde Rand at the Town Clock on August 2, 2015 at a rally to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Collateral Damage statue is dedicated to all victims of war. It was installed at the Town Clock in August of 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Mathilde Rand produced a video documenting the dedication of the statue in 1995. The event was attended by 12,000 people at the Town Clock and at a rally in San Lorenzo Park. To read more about the rally at which this photo of E.A. Chase was taken, see: 70th Anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings Commemorated in Santa Cruz

On October 24, community members joined street performers and artists for a "blanket sit-in" on the sidewalk along Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz. The 24th was the day that a new city ordinance takes effect that restricts the amount of space artists, musicians, and petitioners may use downtown. Regular protests have been held since September when the Santa Cruz City Council first proposed reducing the space allowed for street vendors, artists, performers and others exercising their first amendment rights downtown from 16 square feet to 12. Blankets have been banned as a form of "display device" on which artists (and anyone else who wishes to display something downtown for any reason) may show their work, and the allowed amount of space between people with displays was also reduced. The new 12 square feet limit equates to approximately three squares on the sidewalk, and some demonstrators used chalk to show the public the new amount of space allotted to them. ...