Kate Just, A Sign of the Times: A knitted translation of Felix Gonzalez–Torres Untitled (billboard of an empty bed), (1991), Third Avenue and East 137 Street, Bronx, New York, referencing the photo by Peter Muscato (2026)
Hand knitted wool and acrylic yarn, timber, canvas
86 x 67 x 2.5cm
Kate Just’s A Sign of the Times is a new series of complex hand knitted homages to potent text-based, political public signs by other artists that continue to resonate in our current political and social climate. The series expands upon her approach in past works such as Feminist Fan and Protest Signs, in which the artist deployed knitting to re-materialise and pay homage to significant historical queer/feminist artworks and protest texts, and affirm their position in the canon of art history.
A Sign of The Times casts in knitting famous text-based signs by artists Jeremy Deller, David McDiarmid, Barbara Kruger, Yoko Ono, Susan O’Malley, Zoe Leonard and many others. Just’s knitted replicas reimagine these large-scale public works at a smaller scale and reflect the artist’s devotion to craft-based labour and her belief in the political power of textile crafts.
Just’s knitted materialisations offer a curated glimpse of other political artists work spanning thirty years. Ten of the artists Just references installed their sign artworks in the United States. Just was born and raised in Connecticut and lived the first 21 years of her life in the USA. Although Just is now an Australian citizen and has not spent substantial time in the US since migrating to Australia in 1996, in this body of artworks, she reflects on North America’s dominating influence on global politics and the strong influence of many pop, political and text-based American artists on her own art practice.
As part of her process of making the works, Just shares her research about artists and the development of her knitted works on social media. She writes about and tags each artist whose works she re-casts in yarn. They often reshare or comment upon her knitted versions of their work. During this project, Just connected online with many of the artists whose work she paid homage to, including Jenny Holzer, Damian DinéYazhi, Alyson Provax, Robert Montgomery and Steve Powers.
A Sign of the Times works are hand-knitted on small 3mm needles with acrylic yarn. Each homage tightly captures an intimate, tactile impression of the political artists’ signs and the unique landscapes and spaces surrounding them. This series continues Just’s significant practice of inviting reflection about social and systemic injustices, and the role artists can play in addressing these.
