MacPhee draws on a seeming obsession white South Africans have with armed security, and threads that through a unique lens of both his experiences and science fiction. 24-Hour Armed Security is collection of prints that also comprised the artist book, Security. It processes the connections and disconnections between the United States and South Africa, in particular around issues of race and class. This portfolio includes a colophon of short texts drawn from MacPhee’s travel notebooks.

Set of 16 screenprints (2-3 colors each) housed in a hand-cut and assembled enclosure; a 12-page publication printed on the risograph in 5 colors (South African pattern cover); Signed and numbered.

“One of the most ubiquitous visual aspects of this security culture is a preponderance of signage advertising protection, safety, and extremely violent consequences for any criminal transgressions. As part of processing my experience when I returned home, I began redrawing dozens of these security signs by hand. I ended up producing a limited edition artist book that weaved together excerpts from my journal, these sign drawings, and pieces of South African fabric. One of the side-effects of that book project was twenty extra sets of these screenprints of my security sign drawings.” – Josh MacPhee