Feminism Still Matters by Cecilia S

HOW CAN GRAPHIC DESIGN HELP PROMOTE THE IDEA THAT FEMINISM IS STILL RELEVANT AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE?

PGDIPDVC 2013 Cecilia Serafini Unit 4 Proposal

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

THE DESIGN AREA

THE DESIGN QUESTION

THE RESEARCH METHODS

THE AUDIENCE AND OUTCOME

MORE TO COME

APPENDIX

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

WHAT?

*See appendix.

The design area

THE AREAS OF DESIGN I WISH TO EXPLORE for my final project is activist design, particularly its relationship with printed media. During the last years i’ve started thinking more and more about the designer’s responsibility. I believe that designers -just like artists- do have a social responsibility or quote to fill. Given the fact that we have the tools to communicate, we should use them accordingly. As the First Things First Manifesto of 1964* states, I “[…] hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes”.

I have been interested in feminism for a long time. When I arrived in London, about 9 months ago, I started doing research about feminism in England due to my own interest; I found out how enormously rich this country is regarding feminist history and -being a graphic designer (or at least trying)- couldn’t help but focusing mainly on the graphic material that resulted of it. My initial focus on the subject for my project was the current problem of the so-called branding of feminism. A survey conducted by the Huff Post* during the first months of this year (2013) revealed that only 20% of the population of the United States of America consider themselves feminists. Though the USA do not represent the whole world nor do the thousand people that participated in the poll represent the whole country, those are strong figures that are worth taking a look at. I believe one of the (many) reasons that makes feminism unappealing to the general public is the popular image it has gained during the last decades. Bra-burning, man-hating women are the first thing that come into the minds of a lot of people when they hear the word Feminism.

*See appendix.

(1) Left: Banners used in a second-wave feminist demonstration. (2) Next spread: A piece by NY based activist group Gorilla Girls. “We’re feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous dogooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. How do we expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture? With facts, humor and outrageous visuals” (Source: Guerrilla Girls Official Website).

As I kept on advancing with my research, my focus inevitably changed. After a lot of reading, I realised that the main problem with feminism today is not so much the branding, but the fact that people are starting to think it has become irrelevant. How is this so, one may wonder. Well, apparently people think the fight is over, they falsely believe that women and men are equal in absolutely every sphere of life. Another area of design which I am passionate about is editorial and I BELIEVE THAT printed media; I believe there is a unique power in the physicality DESIGNERS of a design piece. Moreover, these HAVE A SOCIAL are areas of design that have been and still are strongly attached to RESPONSIBILITY activist design. I decided to start my experimentation with printed OR QUOTA media: however, after reading Liz McQuiston’s Graphic Agitation II TO FILL I thought that I should definitely explore other areas of design as well. She says that “Banners and posters carried in the street offer raw strength and human contact; the new

technologies offer global conversations and experimental opportunities for devising new ways of changing attitudes or showing defiance. This extraordinary mix of low tech and high tech, of old and new, has become the hall mark of 21st century protest and will remain its great and enduring strength”. I strongly agree with her point of view, so even though I will still focus on the printed pieces, I will also explore within other (mainly digital) areas of design and how these can help me enhance my project and make it more effective.

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

(3) Above: Guerrilla Girls. (4-5) Top right: Graffiti by Princess Hijab in Paris. Oppositve page: Graffiti on a Fiat Ad, England. Both images are examples of Cultural Jamming. I learnt about subvertising and cultural jamming during my research and I believe them to fit perfectly with my project. Intervening an existing poster or ad can sometimes be more striking and powerful than an actual new poster trying to communicate the same concept.

WHY?

The research question

HOW GRAPHIC DESIGN HELP PROMOTE THE IDEA THAT FEMINISM IS STILL RELEVANT AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE? I FACED SEVERAL CHALLENGESATTHE POINT when I had to narrow down the focus of my project. Considering what I mentioned previously about feminism’s negative branding and the connotations it has for a lot of people, the last thing I want to do is to approach the subject from a combative point of view. Still, I need to be bold, for feminism is not at all a light subject. On the other hand, though I do believe in the power of a printed piece, is it enough to communicate such a strong message? This question made me think about the concepts of visibility and accessibility. Visibility in the sense that I would like to create powerful graphic pieces that help make the project visible and thus help people understand that feminism is something we still need. Visible in the city, in the streets, on the web; present everywhere, just like sexism. Accessibility

in the sense that I would like the pieces to be clear and straight forward. No hidden messages, no snob codes, just plain facts and statements. My challenge is now to create a visually attractive and coherent image that can be applied to a wide variety of pieces that make the project as a whole. One of my main inspirations for the creative part of my project was, is and will be Laura Bates’ Everyday Sexism project. The project “exists to catalogue instances of sexism experienced by women on a day to day basis”. One of the things that Laura states on the project brief is that “It seems to be increasingly difficult to talk about sexism, equality and women’s rights in a modern society that perceives itself to have achieved gender equality. In this ‘liberal’, ‘modern’ age, to complain about everyday sexism or suggest that you are unhappy about the way in which women are portrayed and perceived renders you likely to be labelled ‘uptight’, ‘prudish’, a ‘militant feminist’, or a ‘bra burner’. The project made me think about what a strong impact these statements make already by themselves, and how sexism is still so strong and present. Sexism is alive, and the facts are real and disturbing. Many people are convinced that men and women have reached and equal point when it comes to rights, but it is only because they fail to identify the sexism that still remains. This, unfortunately, is a direct consequence of particular attitudes that are so natural and incorporated to our every day lives that they seem completely normal. So, how to use my research and the tools graphic design offers me to communicate and emphasise the importance of feminism and its relevance?

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

(6-7) Both pictures on this spread are from American artist Jenny Holzer.Though her work always revolves around the language and its power, the subjects can be either political, social or poetic, among others.The way she intervenes a common place with a simple phrase and catches the eye is something I will explore for my final outcome.

The research methods

I STARTED MY RESEARCH WITH THE THEORY because I knew that to get involved with feminism I had to have my concepts clear. I focused on Feminism and visual culture and media during the last 6 decades to get a clear idea of what tools feminists had to promote their ideas. However, these texts were helpful but they lack of a very important component which is being current. I believe that for me to have the tools to create a successful project I needed to understand what was going on right now with feminism and where in particular it was failing. I found very helpful to do online researching and see what was being said and thought about feminism today. Even though things written on the internet must be used carefully, I think it

succeeded in giving me an insight on Feminism’s current issues. I also worked with surveys and opinions, some made by myself and some that were already carried out; I was interested in knowing how people felt and their reaction about certain images.All of this in relation to feminism’s negative branding. However, my main research method was visual investigation. I needed to know how the design for protest looked like during these lasts decades and its development. The recollection of images was key to learn the visual language and techniques that were prevalent in this kind of design. Fortunately for me, feminism is very rich when it comes to graphic material, specially in the UK. See Red Women’sWorkshop, Leeds Postcards*, Jacki Flemming and SouthAtlantic Souvenirs are only some of the names that will always come up.After having a clearer idea of how feminists used to express themselves during the last decades, It would be easier for me to re-interpret those concepts and approach them with from a contemporary side. Regarding the visual experimentation, I have been trying out different possibilities to see how my project could fit in different disciplines. Posters, website and cultural jamming (see appendix) are some of the areas that I explored hoping they could relate coherently with each other. Still much more to go!

*See appendix.

HOW?

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

(8) Barbara Kruger’s first works were simple words silkscreened on to an existing image taken from popular culture (magazines, newspapers, etc). By intervening these images she managed to change their meaning, make a critique on a certain subject and generate consciousness. Conceptually she is a great inspiration for my project. “Do you know why language manifests itself the way it does in my work? It’s because I understand short attention spans.”

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

WHO?

*See first two pictures starting from your left.

The outcome and audience

AS I MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, THE MAIN concepts that I would like to explore in the final outcome are visibility and accessibility. Also, I would like to get into the idea of an interdisciplinary campaign that would have primary graphic pieces but also secondary and supporting ones; low tech and high tech interacting and complementing each other. As a broad concept I have been considering a guerrilla campaign carried out mainly by posters. These would need to be very eyecatching and bold. I started experimenting with a technique called tintero partido* (literally split ink pad) which is very common back in Argentina in the production of low-cost advertising. However, these posters would only be part of an intricate project that will look forward to installing the idea that feminism still matters.

As I showed earlier, the work of artists Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger and the Everyday Sexism project carried out by Laura Bates have been great influences for me since the beginning of the project. I believe that the information that I will be trying to communicate is already strong by itself, so a simple fact on a well composed piece of design could be enough to make a statement. Even more so if this piece of design would, at the same time, refer the viewer to other platforms (say a website). I would like for the motto Still Matters to become popular and at the same time do the job of communicating the concept behind the campaign. Cultural jamming could do that job. For example, sticking the logo of the campaign into an advertising that is considered to be sexist. What if people could download the template from a website and start doing it by themselves? I believe I have got plenty of ideas for the final outcome, which is a good thing. However, now is the time for me to test these and to edit. Defining the audience for my project was a challenge because I would like every single person in the city to be the audience. However, I believe the younger audiences are more responsive to this kind of graphics and techniques, which is ideal because the younger generations are the ones that -I believe- need it the most. They are the ones that might have been brought up a certain way that makes the believe certain attitudes are right and natural, while they really arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t.

(9-10) First two images starting from the left: The magic of these relies on the bright, colourful background and the big black typography trying to fit within the frame. This is a clear case of the importance of the context in design. If I were to use this technique in Argentina it would not be as shocking because it is quite a common one. However, in London it is not that common yet, therefore it will have a greater impact. (11) Third image: Cultural jamming has been going on for ages, but it still creates a big impact. There seems to be something almost sacred about traditional advertising, it is always there, even if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice. It is there to be seen and not to be tampered.

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

JUNE

JULY

Week 1

Week 2

Book: Zeisler, A. & ebrary, I. , Feminism and pop culture

Book: McQuiston, L., Graphic agitation 2

Reading articles

Creating typologies of imagery used by feminist groups that are active in the UK

Getting in touch with feminist groups in the UK Survey

AUGUST Image recollection Editing information

Experimenting with type and colour Came up with logo

SEPTEMBER Letterpress & Lasercut trials

Letterpress & Lasercut trials Propaganda: Power and Persuasion show at the British Library

OCTOBER

Working on the layout Printing and binding trials Choosing paper

NOVEMBER Working on layout for final hand in

Week 3

Week 4 Trip to Argentina

Feminism Reader

Family Holiday

Laptop got Stolen Experimenting with type and colour

Working on the layout Working on the layout Letterpress printing

Testing different versions of the posters in letterpress & silkscreen

Place pieces in the actual public space and try to record real reactions

Testing possible outcomes on young audiences and record reactions about the image of the campaign

Try different media where the campaign could be applied in (posters, stickers, graffiti, subvertising, etc).

Theoretical Research Visual Experimentation

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cammaerts, B. 2007, “Jamming the Political: Beyond Counterhegemonic Practices”, Continuum, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 71-90. Link

Glaser, M., Ilić, M. & Kushner, T. 2006, The design of dissent, Rockport, Gloucester, Mass. Charvet, J. 1982, Feminism, Dent, London.

Soar, M. 2002, “The First Things First Manifesto And The Politics Of Culture Jamming: Towards A Cultural Economy Of Graphic Design And Advertising”, Cultural Studies, vol. 16, no. 4 McQuiston, L. 2004, Graphic agitation 2: social and political graphics in the digital age, Phaidon, London. Zeisler, A. & ebrary, I. 2008, Feminism and pop culture, Seal Press, Berkeley, CA.

IMAGE SOURCES

1. http://thegreatkh.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/wearing-my-feminism-on-my-sleeve.html 2. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/guerrilla-girls-6858 3. http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2010/05/12/25-years-with-your-friendly-neighbourhood-guerrilla-girls/ 4. http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/nov/11/princess-hijab-paris-graffiti-artist 5. http://femaletalk.com/article/feminist-culture-jamming 6. http://oaj.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/3/419/F1.expansion 7. http://anothereyeopens.com/2011/09/11/photo-diaryfrom-the-deep-archives-jenny-holzers-marquees/ 8. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/BodyWorks/11300/04.htm 9. http://o-jj-o.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/festival-de-radio-unin.html 10. http://tomadordefotos.blogspot.co.uk/2009_01_01_archive.html 11. http://www.anonymousartofrevolution.com/2013/01/if-your-product-was-any-good-you.html 14. http://www.feministfightback.org.uk/?cat=4 15. http://feminismandgraphicdesign.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/see-red-womens-workshop.html 16. http://www.kengarland.co.uk/KG%20published%20writing/first%20things%20first/ 17-18 http://www.leedspostcards.co.uk/default.aspx 19. http://chicquero.com/2011/12/06/popaganda-art-and-crimes/ 20. Taken from the article.

WEBSITES

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219413/The-death-feminism-Women-say-need-more.html# http://futurefem.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/is-feminism-relevant-anymore/ http://strikethemask.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/why-feminism-is-important-an-introduction/ http://marianne-elliott.com/2013/07/lest-we-forget-why-we-still-need-feminism/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/21/everyday-sexism-whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-the-big-deal/ http://futurefem.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/is-feminism-relevant-anymore/ http://strikethemask.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/why-feminism-is-important-an-introduction/ http://marianne-elliott.com/2013/07/lest-we-forget-why-we-still-need-feminism/

BYE

This book was designed by me, Cecilia Serafini. All the text in it is mine as well, unless indicated contrary. The fonts used are Frutiger and Perpetua. The book was printed at the London College of Communication in October 2013.

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

I. Graphic Agitation II II. See Red Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Workshop III. What can we do about Feminismâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand problem? IV. First things first V. Leeds Postcards VI. Jamming the political

Extracts from the book by Liz McQuiston

[...] AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR A NEW SPIRIT of activism emerged, driven by individual initiative and a do-it-yourself culture. These changes were accompanied by the emergence and widespread adoption of new technologies. Grassroots activists grabbed control of the internet and made it into the “power to the people” tool of the 1990s. Far from wiping out conventional forms of protest, the emerging technologies complemented and enhanced them. [...] Not all new technologies can reach everyone or appeal to everyone. Protest groups are often quick to condemn the elitism of new technology, while applauding the power of human contact and shouts rising up from the streets. [...] The power of graphic design to cross borders and join cultures in solidarity has never been more pertinent. In a broader sense the 1990s brought a wide range of issues relating to women, such as

taking back power that had been eroded by the conservatism of the 1980s, or creating a power image for a new generation of up-front feminists. Feminism continued to reinvent itself, communicating in media that ranged from the hand-drawn posters of Mexican designer Margarita Sada and the cartoons of Jacky Fleming* to the web activities of SpiderWomen or the new technology explorations of US cyber artists and designer Diane Gromala. [...] Banners and posters carried in the street offer raw strength and human contact; the new technologies offer global conversations and experimental opportunities for devising new ways of changing attitudes or showing defiance. This extraordinary mix of low tech and high tech, of old and new, has become the hall mark of 21st century protest and will remain its great and enduring strength. [...] It is generally accepted that feminism is a form of politics which aims to intervene in, and transform, the unequal power relations between men and women. [...] Consciousness-raising groups were a crucial form in which feminist ideas were formed. [...] The women’s movement, therefore, started from consciousness by challenging those aspects of women’s lives which appeared to be “natural” but were revealed as to be “ideological”. [...] White feminists lamented the absence of large numbers of non-white participants but were unwilling to change the movement’s focus so it would better address the needs of women from all classes and races.

*(12-13) The image above and next spread are by \Jacky Flemming.

GRAPHIC AGITATION II

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

SEE RED WOMEN’S WORKSHOP

*(14-15) Both images on top are silkscreens produced by the SRWW.

Introduction by Cecilia Serafini and extract from Grassroot Feminism web

Researching about feminism in the UK, I learnt about the amazing See Red Women’s workshop. It was a collective of artists, all of them women, who founded a group to “combat sexist stereotyping in advertising”. Many aspects of this group caught my attention; one of them being the fact that even though their objective was not to create beautiful and thoroughly designed pieces because what mattered the most to them was the message, I find the posters are extremely attractive and unique. They were a self-funded group and hardly made any money out of it; the idea was to make cheap posters so they would be accessible to all and therefore the their ideas would spread further.

See Red Women’s Workshop was a screen-print* workshop run as a women’s collective between c 1974 and the early 1990s. It was a radical campaigning and publicising organisation fully committed to the ideals of the second wave feminist movement. See Red’s activities included the designing and printing of their own posters,

postcards and calendars, as well as taking on design and print commissions for other organisations. They also gave talks and demonstrations on screen-printing. Their work was distributed through shops and mail order both nationally and internationally. The group varied in number; overall 25 women worked at See Red during its lifetime. After working from home in the early days, the collective progressed to renting shared space with Women in Print, at 16a Iliffe Yard, off Crampton St, London, SE17. The workshop was initially run without grant-aid, and the women contributed up to three working days a week to the workshop while earning a living elsewhere. In the early 1980s the collective was supported by funding from the Greater London Council. The women were committed to the principles of working as a collective in spite of time and money constraints. They saw themselves as accountable to the Women’s Liberation Movement, and wanted to design posters that were cheap and therefore accessible. They were keen to prioritise the strength of the message over slick techniques or beautiful art, making posters that served an urgent purpose that they acknowledged might ultimately be shortlived. The posters carried either a campaigning or a consciousness-raising message, and treated many subjects including: women and sexuality, health, childcare, domestic politics, domestic violence, sexual equality for girls and women, male sexist attitudes, sexist and degrading treatment of women by the media, and oppression of women in a wider political context, both nationally and internationally. The Workshop finally closed in the early 1990s.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A FEMINIST, ANTI-FEMINIST OR NEITHER?

WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD ’FEMINIST’, DO YOU THINK OF THIS AS A ... TERM.

A Strong Feminist A Feminist Neither A Feminist Nor An Anti-Feminist An Anti-Feminist A Strong Anti-Feminist Not Sure

Completely Positive Mostly Positive Neutral Mostly Negative Completely Negative Not sure

6% 14 % 63 % 5% 3% 8%

7% 19 % 29 % 30 % 7% 7%

DO YOU THINK THAT A MAJORITY OF WOMEN DO YOU BELIEVE THAT MEN AND WOMEN CONSIDER THEMSELVES TO BE FEMINISTS? SHOULD BE [...] EQUALS?

* See chart above. Source: Huffington Post.

Yes No Not sure

27 % 37 % 36 %

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT FEMINISM’S BRAND PROBLEM? By Samhita Mukhopadhyay

ACCORDING TO A NEW STUDY* AT THE Huffington Post (with YouGov) there is a major disparity between people that believe in equality “between the sexes” and identify as feminist. The study found that only 20% of Americans identify as feminist whereas 82% believe that “men and women should be social, political, and economic equals.” Equality between men and women is the most commonly accepted, mainstream definition of feminism. It’s not the only one — and certainly not the one that we adhere to at Feministing (as it relies too wholeheartedly on the gender binary and ignores all the other forms of difference we think are as important as gender oppression) — but it is what most people understand feminism to be about. When I give lectures, I have one joke I tell (that I think is very funny, ahem) about how the best thing anti-feminists could have done to talk young women out of believing in feminism is convincing them that “boys will think you are icky if you are a feminist” — they will think you are a hairy lesbian and they won’t want to have sex with you. I mean, convince an entire generation that they won’t get laid if they believe in something and an antifeminist backlash is born! [...] We also know that feminists, while sometimes include, are definitely not limited to

Yes No Not sure

the “hairy lesbian” set, and we are as diverse in identity as we are in analysis. But, I have noted over the years how many inquisitive young people I meet say they love Feministing but don’t identify as feminist — because being a feminist is scary, it’s castrating, it’s complicated, and it’s angry. The obvious ilk to blame for feminism’s shitty PR is anti-feminists. We can certainly trace the specific lineage of believing women are inferior to men to a conservative line of thinking on gender and power — which ultimately led to the feminist backlash, spreading untrue rumors about braburning, rebel rousers that wanted to castrate men (or however it goes). But maybe there is a less obvious answer as to why people have a hard time relating to feminism. As members of the Advanced Gender Studies Set (AGSS), we have a lot to say about the limitations of feminism and how we talk about gender and power, whether it is looking at how a gender binary limits our possibility for existence or the role that other forms of difference play in how we understand gender identity. But why is this kind of analysis trapped in the AGSS, when it’s merely descriptive of how gender actually works? What is relegated to the complex is actually a much more simple way to understand gender and sexism, one that gets at the core of how we are labeled and the limits that puts on our personhood. For example, isn’t it better to understand the role gender plays in rape culture rather than suggest that all men inevitably rape? Duh, yes. [...] There is no neat, simple, and linear model of feminist progression — there’s only how we can build a better future knowing what we know now — which is a feminism that is so much more than equality. It’s about humanity, compassion, and understanding across all our differences, and as cheesy as that sounds, I do think it’s a definition more people can get behind.

82 % 9% 9%

*(16) Image above: The original First Things First Manifesto.

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

FIRST THINGS FIRST Transcription of the Manifesto.

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, ARE GRAPHIC designers, photographers and students who have been brought up in a world in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented to us as the most lucrative, effective and desirable means of using our talents. We have been bombarded with publications devoted to this belief, applauding the work of those who have flogged their skill and imagination to sell such things as: cat food, stomach powders, detergent, hair restorer, striped toothpaste, aftershave lotion, beforeshave lotion, slimming diets, fattening diets, deodorants, fizzy water, cigarettes, roll-ons, pull-ons and slip-ons. By far the greatest effort of those working in the advertising industry are wasted on these trivial purposes, which contribute little or

nothing to our national prosperity. In common with an increasing numer of the general public, we have reached a saturation point at which the high pitched scream of consumer selling is no more than sheer noise. We think that there are other things more worth using our skill and experience on. There are signs for streets and buildings, books and periodicals, catalogues, instructional manuals, industrial photography, educational aids, films, television features, scientific and industrial publications and all the other media through which we promote our trade, our education, our culture and our greater awareness of the world. We do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: this is not feasible. Nor do we want to take any of the fun out of life. But we are proposing a reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and more lasting forms of communication. We hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes. With this in mind we propose to share our experience and opinions, and to make them available to colleagues, students and others who may be interested.

LEEDS POSTCARDS

*(17-18) Both images above are postcards produced by Leeds Postcards.

Introduction by Cecilia Serafini and extract from their official website In 1979, and inspired by the german political postcards by Klaus Staeck, Richard Scott founded Leeds Postcards as a medium to support political activism. Though the company is based in Leeds, the postcards are not of Leeds, but it was a way of giving the northern city publicity and fighting “against the cultural hegemony of the South”. The themes of the postcards included activism, feminism and basically anything considered oppositional to the big powers. What I found really captivating about this group is the fact that they were and still are completely independent, self-produced and self-funded, and still found a simple but yet striking way of communicating a message. Even though I believe the model of the company has a lot of flaws -including the fact that a lot of postcards are very poorly designed-, I still find it inspiring because the message always goes through. Concerning my project, I am looking for ways to communicate clear and bold messages that get straight to the people, and Leeds Cards showed me that even a small almost home-made postcard can do the job.

“LEEDS POSTCARDS*. POSTCARDS WHICH are oppositional, activist, feminist, challenging, a voice for the oppressed, impressed, or simply pressed: Activism by design since 1979 Amusing, thoughtful, satirical quote postcards. Embracing good thinking, and thinking about the good. Leeds Postcards is an independent postcard press. Our aim is to inform, challenge, question and maybe just amuse.

We produce postcards, button badges and fridge magnets. Many feature quotes from inspirational people. Let’s start with the Leeds bit. Leeds is in the North of England. Over 200 miles from London. We are based in Leeds - and were started in Leeds. And are made in Leeds. The cards are not about Leeds. They are not postcards of Leeds. Leeds is not the subject. It was a defiant attack against the cultural hegonomy of the South!! By 1996 we were the longest running workers co-op in the country - now it is run on very low overheads and self exploitation. Viva Leeds. The idea started in 1979 - inspired by the German political postcards published by Klaus Staeck. Postcards as a political tool and agent for change! These oppositional, inspiring images were too small to need permission and could be put on display sent and shared eg. at school and in the workplace.We were independently distributed to independent bookshops and other radical outlets as well as on sale at festivals, protests and political gatherings. Oppositional activism was very strong and in the eighties and we attracted exciting new political and cultural artists like Steve Bell, Peter Kennard, Ray Lowry, Angela Martin and Jacky Fleming. After all Thatcher was in power - Mandela was in prison, feminism hardly got a look in let alone environmental issues. (In the mid eighties we were publishing our cards on recycled stock with soya based ink!). There was no capital behind Leeds Postcards we were a niche market that stood and fell by our sales. Surely capitalism can support oppositional art and anti-capitalism? Well only with a great deal of love luck sacrifice and idealism. Most cards don’t make enough to pay for their production, cushioned by the softer blockbusters that sell in their thousands, loyal customers and subscribers. Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement over the years which has been massive.”

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters

JAMMING THE POLITICAL By Bart Cammaerts

[…] Some billboard activists, very much at the core of the cultural jamming movement, have shifted their attention from attacking the corporate world and its advertising to the use of purely political messages directed against dominant political thinking. Ron English is a master of the art of subversion, as he calls it. On

his website several examples of political jams can be found, such as sampling Picasso’s famous Guernica painting and placing ‘The New World Order’* over it, or billboards with the slogans: ‘Jihad is Over (If You Want It)’ or ‘One God, One Party—Republicans for a dissent free theocracy’. This type of activism also shows that the street is increasingly becoming a space for political alternative discourses to be ‘advertised’. In many countries radical activists frequently use stickers, for example, to voice dissent. These types of engaged street art seek to subvert and at the same time reclaim public spaces with counter-messages. […] Just like with the more classic ‘corporate’ cultural jams, civil society actors also increasingly use cultural jamming techniques in their political communication and politically oriented campaigns. In the run-up to the 2003 European and regional elections in Belgium, an Antwerpbased multicultural radio station, supported by a broad coalition of local civil society organizations,

*(19) Top left image.

*(20) Top right image.

including several allochthanous organizations, labour unions, gay organizations, even some private-sector actors (such as a discotheque), and supported by a large number of individuals, launched a campaign to counter the propaganda by the north Belgian neo-fascist party ‘Vlaams Blok’. The ‘Hate is No Solution’ campaign was set up to counter the essentialist discourses being voiced by the nationalistic fascist party and to promote mutual understanding and respect between the different communities in Antwerp and Flanders. While the original campaign used slogans such as: ‘Less Immigration, More Flanders’ or ‘Less Crime, More Flanders’, the counter-campaign reversed this by using the same layout and colours but with a completely different message, such as ‘More Heart, Less Hate’ or ‘More Dialogue, Less Hate’. […] Forty thousand of these political jams were also printed in the form of posters. As citizens

were encouraged to put them up, they could be seen throughout the city. Alternatively the posters could be downloaded from the Internet, again showing these two sides of both mobilizing through the Internet and at the same time having a visible presence in the offline world. In the United Kingdom, activists in the anti-war campaigns against the New Labour government have been using similar tactics. One group subverted the original Saatchi campaign against Labour by appropriating the slogan ‘Labour isn’t Working’ but adding ‘For Peace’ and the line of unemployed on the original poster was replaced by a line of bombs.

Cecilia Serafini / Still Matters