OA A LL II TT II O ON N CC O DESIGN WITH PASSION. DESIGN WITH PRINCIPLE. DESIGN WITH INTENT. DESIGN WITH AWARENESS. DESIGN WITH RESOLVE.
SHEPARD FAIREY REVEALS NEW POSTERS TO PROTEST TRUMP FRED MARTINS
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON AFRO COMB SERIES
THE WAGE GAP
IN THE DESIGN WORLD
CO:ALITION
DESIGN FOR CHANGE.
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV CO:ALITION MARCH 2017
ISSUE NO.1
DESIGN WITH PASSION. DESIGN WITH PRINCIPLE. DESIGN WITH INTENT. DESIGN WITH AWARENESS. DESIGN WITH RESOLVE. DESIGN FOR CHANGE.
LETTER FROM THE
EDITOR Charmaine Martinez Editor, Instructor and Type Enthusiast
What is typography? Why does it matter? How does it impact our lives? The Merriam-Webster definition of “typography” is: “the work of producing printed pages from written material” or “the style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page.” How those letters, words, and sentences are styled and arranged affects how they are perceived. Good typography clarifies content, establishes hierarchy, and presents information in a manner that makes it easier to read, and, therefore, to understand. Good typography is good communication: it can start a dialog or advance an idea or make a difference in the world. Typography is also intertwined with our daily lives— we encounter type in everything from the products we buy, the signage around us, the books we read, the news we consume, and the directions we follow. Typography can be beautiful, functional, persuasive, and inviting. It can also fail, especially when there is a disconnect between how the type looks and what the text says. This debut issue of Desight examines typography and design viewed through the lens of activism and social justice. Topics range from the recent presidential election to ethics within the design industry to the power of the poster as a means of expression and protest. The content was conceptualized, collected, curated, and created by students in Art 338: Typography II at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo during winter quarter 2017. The magazine reflects the diverse interests and talents of the students who brought this project to life.
WHAT’S INSIDE?
01 ART AND POLITICS 26 TACKLING SOCIAL ISSUES 52 GET CULTURED
08
HISTORY’S MOST POWERFUL PROTEST ART
12
THE DRAW OF WAR: WALT DISNEY AND WORLD WAR II
16
‘HOPE’ ARTIST SHEPARD FAIREY REVEALS NEW POSTERS TO PROTEST TRUMP
BELINDA LANKS
JOHN DOE
STEPHY CHUNG
26
TRUMP VS. HILLARY: CAMPAIGN DESIGN MATT HANSEN
26
PUNK YET PEACEFUL POSITIVITY: THE SECRET TO ETHICAL DESIGN?
30
WHAT WOMEN ARE WORTH: BUSTING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES FOR MORE MONEY AND POWER
MADELEINE MORLEY
CHERYL HELLER
36
HOW DESIGN CAN HELP END CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
40
JR AND ACTIVISM: THE ARTIST ON A CRUSADE
CANDICE ZAMORA
ANA BAMBIC KOSTOV
52
FRED MARTINS: THE AFRO COMB AND AFRICAN CONSCIOUSNESS KATIE DE KLEE
56
WHY TATTOOING IS UNIVERSAL
58
THE INCENDIARY CLASSICS: ALBUM COVERS FOR CHANGE
OLGA KHAZAN
ASHLEY CLARK
HISTORY’S MOST
POWERFUL PROTEST ART
P OL I T I CS A N D A R T
BELINDA LANKS Homemade posters can pack a punch. But well-designed images can deliver powerful messages that resonate for decades, as these examples, chosen by prominent designers, make clear. From a gold-swallowing Hitler and babies killed in Vietnam to the “I AM A MAN” posters used by black sanitation workers ABOVE: Untitled I Am a Man), Glenn Ligon, 1980
in Memphis to protest poor working conditions, these images harken back to disturbing moments in history. But they’re also reminders of the progress that we’ve made, the challenges we still face, the dangers of sliding backward, and the vital importance of staying engaged in the good fight. FULL ARTICLE
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 15
A R T
A N D
P OL I T I CS
CO:ALITION
LEFT: Victory 1945, Shiego Fukuda, 1945 ABOVE: Clenched Fists RIGHT: This is nazi brutality, Ben Shahn, 1942
THE DRAW OF WAR:
WALT DISNEY AND WWII
In December 1941, Time magazine was about to print its end of year issue, its front cover carrying a big picture of Dumbo - that loveable elephant with the gigantic ears who had helped The Walt Disney Studio achieve soaring box office figures that year. But on 7 December, Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbour, abruptly bringing America into World War Two – and ousting Walt’s latest creation from the front page. Yet, if the war led to a dip in Disney’s fortunes, it was only a temporary one. Within just six months, The Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, California, was declared a war plant. Its filmmaking capacity was given over to the Allied effort and its well-loved cartoon characters all enlisted to do their bit for their country - from Donald Duck and Pluto to Mickey Mouse, Snow White and beyond. Through a mix of groundbreaking military training films, features and propaganda shorts, as well as insignia, books, posters, and much more, Disney sought to boost troops’ morale on the frontline and promote government policies on the home front. FULL ARTICLE
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 17
A AR R TT A AN ND D P PO O LL II TT II C C SS
CO:ALITION
Eagle Squadron
Job Hopper
Over the course of the war, Disney artists designed more than 1,200 combat insignia for all branches of the US military and for its allies. Besides the famed Flying Tigers insignia, one of the most celebrated designs was made for England’s Royal Air Force. Prior to Pearl Harbor, many American pilots joined England’s Royal Air Force as members of Eagle Squadrons 71, 121, and 133. An entry in a Hearst newspaper insignia stamp album stated, “Walt Disney artists were quick to chronicle the significance of this combat union with an American Eagle ‘on guard.”
Disney artists created a wealth of warrelated material for many other federal, state, and local government departments and agencies besides Treasury. This illustration was designed for the War Manpower Commission in 1943, to try and convince employees to stay at the jobs they were trained to do and help ease the critical manpower shortage caused by men being drafted into the military. It appeared in several magazines and was issued as a poster.
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 19
A R T
A N D
P OL I T I CS
CO:ALITION
USS Housatonic Christmas was often a depressing time of the year for men serving overseas. To help raise morale, many units created their own custom holiday greeting cards. Units with Disney-designed insignia often incorporated their insignia into the design of their cards. This particular postcard was sent out by men serving aboard the navy fleet oiler USS Housatanic (AO-35). This tanker saw action in both the Atlantic and South Pacific, where she delivered fuel oil for warships and highoctane gasoline for aircraft.
‘HOPE’ ARTIST
SHEPARD
FAIREY REVEALS NEW POSTERS TO
PROTEST TRUMP
STEPHY CHUNG Shepard Fairey— the artist behind the 2008 “Hope” poster depicting then presidential candidate Barack Obama— has produced a new set of images in time for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration this Friday. The three posters feature Muslim, Latino, and African-American women. “We thought (they) were the three groups that had been maybe criticized by Trump and maybe were going to be most, if not necessarily vulnerable in a literal sense, most feeling that their needs would be neglected in a Trump administration,” Fairey told CNN. Fairey, along with artists Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena, teamed up with the non-profit Amplifier Foundation -- a selfdescribed “art machine for social change” -- to produce works for the organization’s We the People campaign.
“It’s really about making sure that people remember that ‘we the people’ means everyone, it means all the people,” Fairey said. “I think the campaigns were very divisive, more from one side than the other. But (it’s) just reminding people to find their common humanity, and look beyond maybe one narrow definition of what it means to be American.” The campaign’s objective, as stated in its Kickstarter campaign, is to “flood” Washington with symbols of hope on January 20. “On January 20, if this campaign succeeds, we’re going to take out full-page ads in the Washington Post with these images, so that people across the capitol and across the country will be able to carry them into the streets, hang them in windows, or paste them on walls,” organizers wrote.
P OL I T I CS
PAGE 21
A N D
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
A R T
CO:ALITION
So far, more than $1.3 million has been pledged, exceeding the Amplifier Foundation’s $60,000 target. Fairey, who has previously depicted him in an image inspired by George Orwell’s “1984,” has long been vocal about Trump. “Trump is dangerous,” Fairey told CNN in the lead-up to the 2016 election. “He’s a demagogue who’s a bigot and is sexist. He really has no respect for a lot of different people, no experience in politics, and is
pursuing the presidency out of his own ego rather than a desire to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” Fairey is not the only artist making a statement against Trump. Los Angelesbased artist Illma Gore recently revealed a mural painted with human blood to protest Trump, and actress Meryl Streep earned the President-elect’s scorn when she spoke out against him in a speech at the Golden Globes earlier this month.
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 23
A R T
A N D
P OL I T I CS
CO:ALITION
“He is pursuing the presidency out of his own ego rather than a desire to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people”
TRUMP VS
HILLARY CAMPAIGN DESIGN
MATT HANSEN Let’s face it, the 2016 presidential election was pandemonium—an all-out fist fight between the left and the right. In the left corner, weighing in at 33,000 deleted emails, the undisputed wall street heavyweight, Hillary Rodham Clinton. On the right, weighing in at 6 bankruptcies and 34 thousand tweets, the reality tv show host and political newbie, Donald J. Trump. Instead of boxing trunks, the candidates sported expensive suits; and instead of hooks and jabs, they threw negative commercials and obvious subtweets. America watched as the two fighters sparred in the ring, ducking
Illustrations by Matt Hansen
questions and dodging the real issues. After battling it out for the full 12 rounds, one fighter finally tapped out. Just like that, the historic 2016 election was over. Both politicians left the ring unscathed, but the fate of the U.S. was riddled with uncertainty. Behind these politicians were their spirited crew, their clamorous supporters, and of course, their sleep-deprived team of graphic designers. It’s time to take an inside look at the design language behind the two campaigns—which one packed a punch and which one was on the ropes?
P OL I T I CS
PAGE 25
A N D
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
A R T
CO:ALITION
Hillary Clinton Designer: Michael Bierut Date: April 2016 Slogan: “Stronger Together” “I’m just not entirely sure a big red arrow pointing to the right is the best logo for a Democratic candidate, is all.” –The New Yorker “Obama’s ‘O’ was handled with a certain amount of nuance and elegance and Hillary’s ‘H’ has none of that nuance or elegance, her name is Hillary. We don’t know her as Ms. H” –Steven Heller, design critic and former art director at The New York Times
Jill Stein While a pretty terrible logo, it’s interesting that Jill Stein uses different colors than red, white and blue. –Matthias Mencke, Group Creative Director, LA
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 27
Donald Trump
Slogan: “Make America Great Again!” With a better interpretation of the “TP” monogram, the concept of taking the American flag to construct a logo where the initials take the place of the stars (while not new) is fitting in this case and, if you were (or happen to be) someone to vote for Trump, this is a fairly rallying logo. –Brand New
Jeb Bush With a name like Bush, Jeb’s team had to come up with a way to minimize the dynastic association. Constraints spur innovation—and the Jeb! mark is proof. It’s simple, succinct, optimistic and active. The logo (if nothing else) gets my vote! –Bret Hansen, Creative Director, NYC
A N D
Date: July 2016
P OL I T I CS
Designer: unknown
A R T
CO:ALITION
P OL I T I CS
PAGE 29
A N D
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
A R T
CO:ALITION
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 31
PUNK YET PEACEFUL POSITIVITY THE SECRET TO ETHICAL DESIGN?
This hand-written style is a signature of his, appearing across the board on identities and posters that he penned throughout his time working for Mirko Borsche and Stefan Sagmeister. It continues to be a staple, featuring throughout the continual scroll of the young designer’s website and on his work for cultural clients in Berlin
LEFT: Control Syntax Rio (the body) Marius Jopen and Max Kuwertz January 2016
and Amsterdam. Having worked for two of Germany’s most in-demand designers and having recently garnered attention as a finalist for the Dutch Design Awards’ young designer category, starting his own studio is the logical next step for the 2014 Rietveld Academy graduate. I’m not one for inspirational design quotes by any means, but this wasn’t what his Welles poster was; the scruffiness of Jopen’s style makes it seem punk, not twee. It has the same effect on client work. For a recent campaign and identity system for the Rotterdam museum Het Nieuwe Institute’s The Body exhibition, Jopen, in collaboration with Berlin-based designer Max Kuwertz, created a system in which clean grids collide with scrawled felt-tip pen.
SO CIA L
Art director and graphic designer Marius Jopen’s work first came to me in the form of a quote from H. G. Wells, written in an off-kilter, cursive style with thick black Sharpie. It was hung on the door of my coworking studio, where he was set up for a brief stint. “More than machinery, we need humanity, more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness,” it read.
J UST IC E
MADELEINE MORLEY
1. THE CENSOR TIMES Marius Jopen 2014
2. THE CULTURE TIMES Marius Jopen 2013
1
3
5
2
4
6
3. THE HEADSHOT TIMES Marius Jopen 2014
4. THE EQUAL TIMES Marius Jopen 2015
5. THE RELIGIOUS TIMES Marius Jopen 2014
6. THE HAPPY DEATHDAY TIMES Marius Jopen 2013
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 33
Perhaps as an antidote to submerging himself in daily disasters, around the same time Jopen co-founded The Love Foundation.The open network of students and artists raises money by putting on music nights, using the profits to provide clean drinking water for people in the Busia region of Kenya. Instead of invoking guilt through distressing imagery, Jopen—
in line with the sweeping positive news movement—believes design with an optimistic message creates a conducive atmosphere for social causes. In order to connect all members of the foundation together (which now has branches in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Perth, and Santa Cruz, California), he designed a “Love Logo” of two interlocking rings that have become the only recurring motif for the posters promoting events. This is what Jopen’s work does— it elevates—but its aesthetic is wild, quick, and cut-and-paste enough, so that there’s nothing too sentimental about it. It’s vital to consider the role of ethics for contemporary graphic designers, an area often over looked, and to highlight who is using their skills for ideological or political purposes. Jopen’s approach—as symbolized in that small act of tacking a Charlie Chaplin quote to a door—is one that communicates heart and heft.
SO CIA L
While studying in Amsterdam, Jopen began a project akin to the Daily Drop Cap or poster-a-day craze that has become an almost compulsory exercise for students. For almost two years he created a poster reflecting on the news headlines, printing out a grid he’d put together on InDesign and scrawling across it in felt-tip pen, collaging and illustrating to articulate complex issues with striking simplicity. Eventually he found the routine frustrating, feeling as if he was participating in a merry-go-round of negative news.
J UST IC E
“More than machinery, we need humanity, more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness”
WHAT WOMEN
ARE WORTH
BUSTING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES FO
MORE MONEY AND POWE
N
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 35
H I was asked to speak at the conference in Chicago about the fact that women make less money than men. It’s an endless emotional subject colored by centuries of opinions. Following, nevertheless, is one more point of view. I believe that money and power will not come through legislation, although that may give women the confidence to act. It will come through an understanding of how our behavior has been conditioned by stereotypes and how our expectation levels are set and the responsibility we share in setting those expectations. The time has come for this issue of men versus women to end. Too much has been said and written and too much money has been made by those to stand to profit from analyzing the gender gap. The most honest and useful belief we can hold is that the battle we have to fight is an individual battle having nothing to do with gender.
LEFT AND NEXT PAGE: The Wage Gap Series Asha Logan 2017
J UST IC E
ER
CHERYL HELLER
SO CIA L
OR
It’s undeniably true that women make less money than men, and money is the sign of equality. Women earn less money than men at every level of education. The gap is as large for college graduates as for workers who have not finished high school. Both men and women employers pay their female subordinates roughly $12,000 less than their male subordinates with similar positions. It’s a fascinating statistic. Women pay women less than they pay men. One-third of all new businesses today are started by women, and surprisingly, among the selfemployed, the gap in hourly earnings is slightly larger. That means that even when women have their own companies, they pay themselves less than men pay themselves. The facts about the wage gap are relatively uncontroversial, but there’s a lot of disagreement as to why. The first inclination is to blame employers, but if employers had the power to control wages, why wouldn’t they drive down the wages of men? They have to face the issues of supply and demand and they pay, to men and women, as little as they can while remaining competitive in the marketplace, and they respond to whoever applies the most pressure.
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 37
Not surprisingly, the fact that men have been in power has had an effect on the study of sexual differences. First of all, women had not been considered important enough to study, and the study that has been done has been directed towards discovering proof of women’s biological inferiority. Men have simply been protecting their turf. We have been considered less intelligent because of our smaller brain size and are unable to perform several tasks simultaneously because of less brain lateralization. We’re believed to be more controlled by our hormones than are men. Edgar
Burman, who was medical advisor to the late Hubert Humphrey, warned against women’s participation in public affairs because of their “raging hormones” and U.N. Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick reported that some White House critics resisted her appointment because of her female “temperament.” We’re believed to be generally fixed as homemakers and breeders of children through the evolution of hunter-gatherer societies. We’re also believed to be more “social” and more suggestible, to have lower self-esteem, to excel over men at repetitive tasks, to be less analytical, less motivated towards achievement, and more auditorially oriented rather than visually. None of these things is true. What is true; however, is that we’re conditioned to behave in certain ways regarded as appropriate to our gender by our parents, our teachers, and by society. The overwhelming evidence that’s come to light in the last decade indicates that gender differentiation is best explained as a social construction rooted in hierarchy, not in biology. It’s been proven that jobs affect behavior tremendously. Recent research found a direct link between the pace complexity, or routinization
SO CIA L
A second definition of discrimination is job segregation, the assumption that women are suited to some jobs more than others or the menial tasks rather than managerial. It’s called sexrole differentiation and there are a million reasons as to why it exists. The assumption that we’re not the same has existed forever. Within the original myths of almost every culture, there seems to be a preference for dichotomous thinking, which, as Simone Dabougraur wrote in 1945, “Casts men as the norm and women as the other possessing traits opposing to men.”
J UST IC E
“gender differentiation is best explained as a social construction rooted in hierarchy, not in biology”
of a job and the person’s commitment, intellectual flexibility, moral perspective, and competence. In other words a person’s interest and competence turns out to be linked to exposure to new situations and opportunities to learn in advance. We actually condition ourselves as we are being conditioned to fit this hierarchy. It’s been discovered that people do “emotion work” on themselves to create feelings that appropriate to their role in society; also, that through anticipatory socialization, men condition themselves to have masculine feelings and women to have feminine feelings. Nora Ephron wrote about this self-fulfilling prophecy:
“I adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself. I discovered that even now men prefer women to be less informed, less able, less talkative, and certainly less self-centered than they are themselves, so I generally oblige them. I didn’t particularly want to be good at reversing cars and didn’t in the least mind being patronized by illiterate garage men. But all stereotypes disintegrate when we look at individuals. The fact of the matter
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 39
It was Coleridge’s idea that a truly great mind is androgynous, one that rises above the traps of gender. We create our own opportunities. We must accept responsibility for doing that, and we must accept that we are just as responsible for not creating opportunities. For everyone it’s an individual battle. No organization and no legislation will change enough people. What will help is for each of us to work individually to prove the stereotypes
wrong to ourselves and to everyone else. People who are successful have many qualities in common. They have a passion to be great that carries them through rough times and keeps them focused. They’re clear about what they want. They don’t focus on limitations. They take risks and they have courage. These are qualities shared by both genders. We have a tremendous advantage. We have learned a lot from not being the ruling class. I read once that children always know their parents better than parents know their children. That’s because those with power are studied carefully by those they control. We still have the element of surprise. If you’re not expected to be strong or brilliant, it can work to your advantage. t seems to me that the conflict is to be treated roughly, so you must choose. At a conclusion of A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Wolf wrote, “If we face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is not an arm to cling to, but that we go alone and that our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men and women, then the opportunity will come.”
SO CIA L
is that more men than women do certain things and behave in certain ways and vice versa, but in reality, the world just doesn’t split neatly down that line. What differences there are between men and women turn out to be much smaller than the differences between rich and poor or between managers of small and large companies or old and new companies. They may even be smaller than the differences between old and young people, or those with professional parents and those with working class parents. The concepts of male and female cause the sorting and skewing of perceptions by focusing on differences rather than similarities. Often these distinctions are based on very slim evidence.
J UST IC E
“The concepts of male and female cause the skewing of perceptions by focusing on differences rather than similarities.”
HOW DESIGN CAN HELP END
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
CANDICE ZAMORA If you thought our politically-correct society has eliminated issues of race and stereotypes from advertisements, brand logos, and the fields of web and graphic design, you thought wrong. A more complex and extremely controversial topic is creeping up in American culture: cultural appropriation.
Wikipedia defines Cultural appropriation as a sociological concept which views the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture as a largely negative phenomenon. Generally, an assumption that the culture being borrowed from is also being oppressed by the culture doing the borrowing is prerequisite to the concept.
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 41
The Professional Association for Design (AIGA), which is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design, reports that 86% of graphic designers in the field are Caucasian American. The remaining demographic breakdown is as follows: 2% are Black, 4% are Hispanic/Latino, 6% are Asian/Pacific Islander, and 2% are “other�. This lack of diversity makes the entire career field
less credible- after all, how can graphic design be taken seriously if only a certain demographic is creating everything? The real problem is designers are being denied the chance to advocate for certain viewpoints from the actual source of the information. This increases the chances of appropriation appearing in real life and stereotypes appearing in graphic design work. IMAGES: (1) Katy Perry, This is How We Do Music Video (2) Katy Perry, American Music Awards Performance (3) Katy Perry, Roar Music Video (4) Katy Perry, Dark Horse Music Video
SO CIA L
J UST IC E
CO:ALITION
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 43
So How Can We Fix It? In order to successfully lead improvement and change, design companies must openly embrace more diverse practitioners and retain them through inclusion. The
industry as a whole has a responsibility to foster new talent and create communities of contributors who represent more realistic gender and ethnic ratios in order to give everyone an equal chance succeed. Additionally, designers can take measures to avoid placing stereotypes on other cultures. The chances of this happening decrease when diversity is welcomed; designers then get the chance to understand the history behind certain elements of another ethnicity’s culture. The more designers of different backgrounds know about each other the better they can create intelligent and sensitive expressions and avoid appropriation. America can’t afford to lose the amazing contributions that can be made by misrepresented segments of its population, and reaching out to these populations is the first step toward ending racist designs and cultural appropriation.
“designers are being denied the chance to advocate for certain viewpoints from the actual source of the information”
SO CIA L
In a word, yes. Technology and globalism make diversity and inclusion more necessary than ever in today’s world. From a design standpoint, diversity and inclusion within the field leads to more innovation- we can’t advance without different ideas from different viewpoints. As Americans, we absorb brands, logos, and visual representations into our identities-so they need to be accurate and respectful. It’s important that our culture welcomes expression and participation from all ethnic, gender and socioeconomic populations because their insights and experiences can inform and enrich the lives of our whole society.
J UST IC E
Is Diversity Really That Important in Design?
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 45
JR & ACTIVISM: THE ARTIST ON A CRUSADE
It’s obvious that JR’s art comes from activism, but the manner in which this
TED prize winner conducts his affairs is entirely different. He does not focus only on several concrete issues as Keith Haring did, nor does he engage in advocating revolution in style of Carrie Reichardt. JR thinks wider, always bearing a universal picture in mind, even if he focuses on concrete, local issues in any of his continuous travels. Recognized by the art world as a prodigy, JR is today known as an activist for women’s rights, peace and equality, always having one common quality in all his projects – an idealistic belief in humanity.
SO CIA L
He started on the houses of Paris by writing his name on rooftops. After realizing he could make use photography to tell a wider story, he began pasting images he took on walls in numerous illegal sidewalk galleries. When Paris was caught by the riot fire in the mid 2000s, his social consciousness reached a new level of lucidity, and his activist crusade began. His moniker is JR and he is probably the most globally spread street artist.
J UST IC E
ANA BAMBIC KOSTOV
“having one common quality in all his projects – an idealistic belief in humanity”
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 47
The beginnings of JR’s activism stem from his firm convictions that people are often served with wrong ideas about anything ‘other’, while he seeks his subjects in areas where there were no museums, or other cultural institutions. In the Portrait of a Generationproject, realized in Paris between 2004 and 2006, JR turned his focus towards the marginal groups of society. Initially, those were kids against whom the prejudice of Parisian bourgeoisie was overwhelming, so pasting posters with their faces across the posh arrondissements of the City of Light had an immense impact. So immense in fact, that the Paris City Hall allowed for JR’s photographs to be wrapped around its outer walls. The word prejudice played the crucial role here, as it did in the next adventure of JR, located in the dangerous West Bank area. LEFT: JR, Refacing Africa
J UST IC E
JR Rooftop Beginnings
SO CIA L
CO:ALITION
IMAGE: JR, Women are Heroes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008
PAGE 49 PAGE 49
J UST IC E
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
SO CIA L
CO:ALITION CO:ALITION
Hearing a lot about the Israeli -Palestinian conflict, the artist embarked on a journey wanting to experience the situation and, perhaps, help overcome it on some level. Fighting against prejudicial ‘other’, he pasted photographed portraits of Palestine and Israeli people on the West Bank barrier, one next to the other, on both sides of the wall. He called the project Face 2 Face, and as he was looked disapprovingly by some for putting pictures of Israelis or Palestinians in the enemy zone, rarely could those people tell apart which one was which. By confronting two opposites, putting them in the same place and leveling them, JR did the unthinkable in a way, which aided
in the understanding of absurdity of their discord. His actions stood for tolerance and acceptance, for peace, suggesting an alternative of friendship instead of clash. The development of JR’s evolving artistic and socially engaged practice took him in the direction of advocating women’s rights as well. He started this initiative in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and spread it across places with the highest rate of social distress. Women are Heroes project went from Brazil to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, India, and Cambodia highlighting women as the most vulnerable and the strongest survivors of any given problem they encounter in the unsettling conditions they live in.
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 51
Art to the People It’s hardly surprising that JR chose public art for his primary expression. The illicit nature of his works is there to emphasize the direct communication with the people, his partners in crime. The response and the reaction if what JR is trying to provoke, while the opinions of the stale elite are of little interest to him. He wants to move the masses,
propagating equality and human values with every step of the way. Even his more sentimental projects, Unframed and Wrinkles of the City, posses a clear critical or empowering tone, fighting for everyman, or the too-frequently overlooked social groups. Still, his latest concept, the one that made him a global phenomenon, is what embodies JR’s activism the best.
SO CIA L
J UST IC E
LEFT: JR, Women are Heroes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008 BELOW: JR, Wrinkles in the City
Inside Out Can Change the World Already a king of street art, JR decided to involve people in his ideas. When giving his inaugural TED talk in 2011, JR asked a crucial question – Can art change the world? He did not offer a yes or no answer at the time, stating that art definitely can change how people perceive the world, altering the viewing angle, while proclaiming his wish – to use art to turn the world inside out. Then and there, the biggest participatory art project in the world was born – Inside Out Project. As the winner of a million dollar prize, JR started engaging people across the world to make a photographic statement, to stand for their beliefs, to make their mark, The response was (and still is) vast, as the photobooths aiding in photographing people and the exhibitions spread from the USA to China. Using photography as activism, JR achieved in reaching out to millions, who dared in making themselves to be, visible and thus, known and heard. Accomplishments of JR’s artistic engagements have surpassed all expectations. The success and the acceptance they get from local communities testify to the purposefulness of his actions, as he succeeded in changing the dynamics of various, tightly knit, groups of ABOVE: JR, Women are Heroes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009
“for tolerance and acceptance, for peace, suggesting an alternative of friendship instead of clash”
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 53
SO CIA L
J UST IC E
CO:ALITION
people. Acting locally, they made an impact on the global scene, reintroducing the most universal human values into a over-stratified global society. People have become their own brand, while the artist insists on not having any logos, sponsors or credits on his art, giving it back to
the people. Therefore, JR’s anonymity is logical and deliberate, as he is only the vessel of the community. His photographic activism takes him to where he is needed the most, where he endeavors to put an ordinary man on the global map, so that when he is looked at, he can always look back.
PAGE 55
J UST IC E
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
SO CIA L
CO:ALITION
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 57
THE
AFRO COMB &
AFRICAN CONSCIOUSNES
KATIE DE KLEE Tell me more about the image of the comb?
CU LT UR ED
Lately, I started listening to some early 90’s West African highlife music, the nostalgic feeling from that retro world inspired me. Their passé style made me brood on our music and culture and later, on the African struggle for freedom, social justice and fairness. And on those that gave their all, breaking into pieces like a comb trying to liberate the scalp from lice. So I illustrated strong and symbolic images in honour of some celebrated African activists and past leaders that still inspire a lot of people.
G ET
Nigerian artist Fred Martins shares his latest collection of politically charged art with Design Indaba. His previous series drew attention to the serious issue of climate change, which was aimed at triggering an emotional response in the viewer—which might then lead to better global stewardship. This new project celebrates African activists, who were jailed for trying to enforce the freedom and fairness for Africans. Using the symbol of the “afro comb,” Martins’ series includes portraits of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba and Fela Kuti.
IMAGES: Fred Martins, Afro Comb Series
“Africans for me are indivisible, not even by geography”
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 59
What do you think is so strong about the comb as a symbol? Afro combs were worn in the 70’s by fluffy-afroed youths in America as a protest against repression and it goes beyond style and adornment, a comb has a strong historical play for Africans. Combs were connected to both cultural and religious beliefs, even though they were fashionable and also used for combating lice, ticks and fleas. The over 5500-year-old Afro-combs discovered in Kemet (Egypt) disproves the present theories that denies Egypt its blackness. It connects Africans to their ancestors.
Why the bold orange background? The orange color is associated to prison. I realized that most of these legendary activists—from Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Fela Kuti to Angela Davis— were at some point jailed for enforcing the African consciousness.
Africans for me are indivisible, not even by geography. They are treated as one people across the globe and it does not matter their birth place so they are not limited by global mapping. And for sharing the same goal and struggle they should be uniformly honored.
CU LT UR ED
Your characters are not only Africans who lived on the continent, was it important for you to included the diaspora Africans?
G ET
CO:ALITION
WHY
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 61
TATTOOING IS UNIVERSAL
OLGA KHAZAN
Chris Rainier, a photographer for National Geographic and other publications, has traveled the world in search of cultures he describes as having “one foot in the Garden of Eden.” (He was also Ansel Adams’s last assistant). Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is organized jointly by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute, he explained how “many cultures around the world believe that the body is a canvas waiting for a story to be told.” From New Zealand’s Maori people to Angeleno gangsters, most cultures incorporate some form of tattooing. But “where the skin is too dark to tattoo, there is scarification,” Rainier said. When he would visit African societies that practice scarification, and he would ask locals who they thought was the most beautiful woman or the most handsome LEFT: Chris Rainer from book Ancient
Often, body modifications go beyond vanity, reflecting a necessary part of the transition to adulthood. He photographed one group of Papua New Guineans who believe all of mankind originated from crocodiles, and therefore have their young initiates scar their skin to resemble the scales of a reptile. To varying degrees, the same is true even of cultures that practice less extreme versions of tattooing. As Smithsonian wrote regarding Rainier’s work, “In New Guinea, a swirl of tattoos on a Tofi woman’s face indicates her family lineage.The dark scrawls on a Cambodian monk’s chest reflect his religious beliefs. A Los Angeles gang member’s sprawling tattoos describe his street affiliation, and may even reveal if he’s committed murder.” “They say, ‘This is who I am, and what I have done,’” Rainier told the magazine. Which just goes to show, the ways in which we mark our skin may vary widely, but deep down we’re all the same.
CU LT UR ED
In a given society, the motivation for covering oneself in paint, ink, or even scars speaks to what the civilization as a whole holds dear.
man, they would inevitably point to the most scarred.
G ET
Tattooing, when you think about it, is like smiling: Nearly every culture does it, but not always for the same reason.
THE
INCENDIARY
CLASSICS:
1960
We Insist! – Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite The cover of this impatiently-titled, classic jazz record references the sit-in movements of the civil rights movement which started in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. As with To Pimp a Butterfly, the confrontational nature of the image is accentuated by the fact that everyone in the frame is staring straight down the camera.
1971
The Last Poets– This Is Madness The Last Poets was an amorphous, ever-shifting collective of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s black nationalist movement. The staunchly Africanist imagery, flamecoated backdrop and Black Power salutes tell the whole revolutionary story on the cover of their album This is Madness.
CO:ALITION
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 63
ALBUM COVERS
FOR CHANGE ASHLEY CLARK
1973
1982
Born Herman Poole Blount in the Jim Crow hotspot Birmingham, Alabama in 1914, Ra maintained he was not of this planet and painstakingly crafted a mythical persona that fused sci-fi ideas and aesthetics with Egyptian mysticism. In his sole fictional film appearance, Ra plays a seer whose mission is to get the disenfranchised black youth of the day to relocate to the utopian haven of space. Its allegorical take on a blasted, post-civil rights urban America as no place for black people was hardly subtle.
The self-titled debut by DC Rasta-punks Bad Brains – once regarded as one of the fastest albums of all time – flies by in a flurry of aggravation and spittle-flecked spirit. Its cover courted controversy by depicting the chrome dome of the Washington Capitol building being struck by lightning and cracking apart. Perhaps the electricity was conducted by their furious hardcore.
Bad Brains – Bad Brains
GE T CUL T UR ED
Sun Ra – Space is the Place
1999
2000
Taking its title from the classic 1958 novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, the artwork for Things Fall Apart draws a terrifying line between the past and the present in its use of a stark, monochrome photograph from the civil rights movement era. It depicts the terrifying sight of riot police chasing two black teenagers – one boy, one girl – down the streets of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Among the most politically-conscious rap outfits of the era (alongside the likes of Black Star and X-Clan), Dead Prez matched their thrillingly didactic wordplay with uncompromising imagery. The cover of Let’s Get Free represents an open call for armed revolution and aligns contemporary, capitalist, repressive America with colonial-era Africa in the form of an armed village preparing to
The Roots Things Fall Apart
Dead Prez Lets Get Free
FEBRUARY 2017 ISSUE IV
PAGE 65
2010
2015
Kanye West is all about pushing the envelope, whether that means singing an entire album in AutoTune, creating a 35-minute art movie to promote his new album or giving that disc a controversial piece of cover art that is sure to turn heads.
On Wednesday morning, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar posted the cover art for his forthcoming LP, To Pimp a Butterfly, on Instagram, prompting much excitement. To call its vivid imagery confrontational would be an understatement. Shot in striking monochrome with the quality of a vintage Polaroid, it features a large group of mostly shirtless black men and children – plus one baby, cradled by Lamar himself and, possibly, one woman – arranged in a victory tableau on the lawn in front of the White House.
West revealed the provocative image on the cover of his upcoming album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, over the weekend on his Twitter and immediately claimed that it had been banned. The colorful illustration by contemporary American painter/sculptor George Condo also provided the image for West’s “Power” single.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly
CU LT UR ED
Kanye West, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
G ET
CO:ALITION
DESIGNED BY: ERIN HERNDON This content of this magazine was gathered and curated by the typography students of California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. The typefaces used are Open Sans and PT Sans.