Not all “vernacular” signs are created equal. Indeed, most vernacular signs by virtue of the name should be different. They are often handmade by untutored hands. Some of the best of the ad hoc ads I’ve ever seen are collected in Serious Things a Go Happen: Three Decades of Jamaican Dancehall Signs (Hat & Beard, Los Angeles) by Maxine Walters (edited by J.C. Gabel and Vivien Goldman, with an introduction by Marlon James). This exceptional volume “brings together more than 100
