Imagery shows U.S. Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito upside down. The art references her flying the American flag upside down outside their house and also flying The Appeal to Heaven flag outside their beach house (that flag features a Pine Tree). The upside-down flag has become a symbol of the pro-Trump “stop the steal” movement and efforts to keep the former president in power. Some Trump supporters carried upside-down flags at the Jan. 6 riot. Because of that association, Democrats have called for Martha’s husband to recuse himself from cases related to Trump and the insurrection. He refuses to do so.

This artwork shows insurrectionists climbing the U.S. Capitol, an insurrectionist using bear spray, and a dead police officer. The shoes on the insurrectionists symbolize the shoes Mexicans wear when they climb over the wall at the U.S. border. (The Mexicans wrap their shoes in coverings made from Mexican blankets – so when they step on the sanded area in front of the fence on the U.S. side, their footprints are hidden from border patrol.) It reflects on the irony of the insurrectionists climbing the Capitol building and illegally entering it. The title is in Italian and means obstruction, since Martha-Ann said she dreams of making her own flag and titling it Vergogna (which means shame in Italian). The Trump sign is especially apt, since Martha-Ann has gotten in disputes with her neighbors over political yard signs.

Mixed media on Trump yard sign.

2024