In the days following the 2024 election, I grew tired of the mea culpas from discouraged Democrats and the fatalistic “what else can we expect from politics?” fired from people around me. Shortly afterwards I visited the Mexican prints in the Vanguard exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was deeply moved by the ingenuity and vitality of the cartoons and posters. I remember feeling awe at José Guadalupe Posada’s brilliant satirical depictions of authoritarianism about the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, and laughing at the rhymes satirizing the rich and powerful. Before I left, I started thinking to myself that I should try the same thing. So I contacted my colleagues Pablo Helguera and Noah Fischer and presented the idea of a publication to them. Luckily for me, they immediately agreed. I’m amazed at the willingness of so many of our colleagues to share their work with us for the first issue of The Siren. This is the sanest answer we can think of for our utterly insane times. May it sharpen our minds! —Coco Fusco
