Don't Know Won't Know

Affixed to the side of a bridge in Trenton, New Jersey, a sign rendered in capital letters reads: TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES. Erected in 1935 to celebrate the city’s manufacturing power, civic leaders reinstalled the sign with ten foot neon letters in 1984.

Whetstone takes this curious landmark as a starting point for his own reconfigured, contemporary message. He combined negatives to produce a new photograph that reads “Don’t Know Won’t Know.” This phrase, overheard by the artist as he was working, references the original message, while leaving interpretation open-ended. In part Whetstone questions the sign’s resonance for a city where manufacturing industries have long since ceased operation.