Typology of Thieves

This publication inaugurates a new project by Shanzhai Lyric compiling an archive of famous shoplifters and heroic thieves throughout history. The first in the series pays homage to Elizabeth B. Phelps, a notable suffragette who was apprehended for lifting a handful of candy from a Macy’s department store. Her legacy lives on in a popular children’s hand game. Phelp’s portrait is featured alongside an essay by shoplifting scholar Silvia Bombardini. 

Published on the occasion of “Untitled (portrait of a siren),” 2022, a sound piece and installation which repurposes anti-theft panels and security tags to reframe shoplifting as an alluring act of resistance. 

Text by Silvia Bombardini