University at Buffalo (UB)
Published July 5, 2022
Professor Kenyon mentioned in UB NOW and Buffalo News
A note written on “Alternative Rule” paper about preventing gun violence.
“I want these names to become part of the living archive of correspondence, so that as long as letters on this paper are received and archived, the names of the victims will continue to demand the justice they deserve. ”
Matt Kenyon, associate professor
Department of Art
Elected officials receive anti-gun letters on ‘Alternative Rule’ paper
By VICTORIA SANTOS, published June 29, 2022
In 2020, UB faculty member Matt Kenyon created “Alternative Rule,” a memorial to the school children who have been affected by gun violence. “Alternative Rule” paper might look like the regular red-and-blue lined paper children use in elementary school, but the lines are made up of the micro-printed names and dates of thousands of children who have been victims of gun violence since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. When the pages are magnified, each ruled line is revealed to be the micro-printed text.
“I want these names to become part of the living archive of correspondence, so that as long as letters on this paper are received and archived, the names of the victims will continue to demand the justice they deserve,” says Kenyon, associate professor and director of the graduate program in the Department of Art.
He has spent the past two years inviting people to take a sheet of “Alternative Rule” and use it as stationary to write letters to government officials, advocating for gun control in America.
Another Voice: A unique letter-writing project and protest tool - Alternative Rule
Matt Kenyon, published Jun 8, 2022,
Alternative Rule looks just like the blue and red alternate lined paper we all used as students to learn penmanship, but in Alternative Rule, the lines on the paper are made up of thousands of micro-printed names and dates of children who have been victims of gun violence.
I’ve spent the past two years inviting people to take a sheet and use it as stationary to write letters to members of government, advocating for gun control in America. I want these names to become part of the living archive of correspondence - so that as long as letters on this paper are received and archived, the names of the victims will continue to demand the justice they deserve.
As a student, I witnessed a shooting at Westdale, my public middle school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was the late-1980s. I remember the announcement over the intercom to shelter in our classroom and our teacher in a hushed voice telling us to lay down on the floor. I remember the police with their guns and the subsequent shootout behind the school. Stray bullets punched neat little holes high up in the windows of the classroom.