rat posters & sculpture, 1970s

The city has its own ecosystem with a delicate balance. Soon after moving to the city, I became a fascinated observer of rat behavior, watching for patterns in feeding, social interaction, and population movement. The garbage strike of 1979 went on for 3 weeks, creating habitat opportunity with every accumulating pile of garbage. I started pasting these up as a way to mark areas that were infested, so people could avoid walking through dangerous areas in which rats were defending their territories. I “borrowed” a sanitation ad from a subway car of this lifesize rat and had it offset printed. Never intending to defend rats, I wanted to point out how we had created a habitat for them, and they would naturally occupy it.

It has been said that rats possess a culture—if you define culture as the ability to pass information through generations without direct experience—such as a fear of predators and pesticides. Humans and elephants are the only other species that can do that.

Rubble Rats

Rat poster at Chamber Street Station