Scabby the Rat is a signature symbol of organized labor in the United States. The larger-than-life inflatable rodent with bloodshot eyes, spikey claws, and snarling incisors is a familiar sight at union pickets, where his presence signals workplace mistreatment and strikebreaking to the greater public.
Now, Scabby is the centerpiece of the ongoing exhibition Scabby: A Rat About Town by Austrian artist Marlene Hausegger. On view at South Slope’s Open Source Gallery through November 29, the installation combines black-and-white photographs lacerated with mock rat scratches; audio excerpts from former Amazon worker and present-day union activist Natalie Monarrez; and, naturally, an inflatable Scabby, covered in words pulled from Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 song “Factory.” Painted across the rat’s torso and legs, the lyrics have been edited to reference women instead of men.