west by northwest (by midwest)

I slipped down a random street today and was rewarded with a new “oxen” message.

The same “oxen” tag a little closer up:

Seeing “oxen” lay claim to a brick, I cannot help but think of Temple Square–in particular, the museum exhibit of oxen carts used to carry stones from local quarries to the temple construction site. The very word “oxen” carries a religious connotation here in Salt Lake City–a connotation I am just now beginning to grasp. It took a visit to Temple Square to (start to) understand it.

Every time I see an “oxen” tag now, I picture the literal beast loaded up with stones on its back. Or the baptismal font in the temple basement, with twelve oxen arranged in a circle, backs facing in, a baptism pool held aloft on their backs. The oxen represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

But I suspect this vandal means something radically different: political critique instead of religious proselytizing.  No matter where I find a new “oxen” tag, it always feels like a confrontation. Am I one of the oxen? Am I a beast of burden? Whose burden do I carry? Why? It also feels like a stab at the LDS–using one of the faith’s own symbols to mock(?) its followers.

Maybe I am making an assumption based on the medium (graffiti), but the whole “oxen” project feels anarchistic to me. When I wake up to new tags in the neighborhood, I wonder when “oxen” creeps out from his underground hiding place. I wonder what burden he carries that drives him to spread this (the?) word.