An Image of the Border

In thinking about the intersects between art and culture, I remembered one of the most powerful images from a border mobilization I attended along the Sonora-Arizona border. Every year there is a weekend-long event that takes place on the Mexican side of the border to protest the wall, immigration policies, human rights and environmental law violations, etc. In addition to feeling validated and inspired by a large group of people who share my political views, the most touching part of the weekend for me was to take part in writing the names and ages of those who had lost their lives trying to cross the border in the year since the last mobilization on small white crosses and mounting the crosses on the wall. To see hundreds upon hundreds of crosses hanging along the wall contextualizes the human impact of the United States' relationship to its Latin American neighbors. I had a very similar experience when I saw a travelling exhibit of soldiers boots lined up on the UA mall (symbolizing the soldiers that died in the Iraq War). Because I felt more emotionally connected to the issue after being able to see a visual representation of the lives lost in both these instances, I know that visual images are a necessary part of any political movement because we need a break from the rhetoric so that we don't become desensitized to it, and because we are creatures who respond to the aesthetics of any argument.

Poster Boy

MLK. Why haven't I see this before? Look how intense his facial expression is! Look how young he is! This must be from his college days. When I google imaged Martin Luther King, Jr., I guess I thought I would find tons of great images and compelling posters. But everything I saw I had either seen before or was poorly designed. This was the only image I found that was compelling...I think that part of getting the younger generations interested in social justice movements is designing media that grabs their attention and looks sexy-- and shows historical figures as they appeared in their youth so young people can imagine themselves in the shoes of someone their age. For the next MLK day I want to silkscreen this image onto a black shirt and write "Poster Boy" on the top in white letters. There could even be a nice quote on the back, like the one Maya Lin chose for her memorial: "until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream..."

anti-war.us

I was looking through this book "The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics" by Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic for some inspiration and happened upon a write up of a website I had never heard of before. Glaser and Ilic summarized the website like this "The anti-war.us website was created by Plazm Design to distribute effective anti-war messages and graphics to activists around the world. The intention is to make the images available to the public for downloading so that they can be transferred to stickers, posters, signs, or other media for posting." The idea that artists would volunteer their labor to make art to support anti-war efforts is inspiring to me because it means that these people aren't the greedy kind of designers whose only artistic goal is to make images that sell. You have to applaud people like that because it is hard to make a living as an artist and probably even harder for socially and politically conscious artists to find clients who share their same values-- at least that's my perception of contemporary society. I feel like people who are conscious and acknowledge how bad things are and are motivated to work for change are the minority in this country and in the world-- but those of us who live privileged lives have no excuse to not be using our free time and luxury money to do something positive.

Mind Map

Design, Culture and Language definitions & intersects.

An intersection of design, culture and language would be this image to the left, which uses language to communicate the content of the magazine, design to aesthetically balance the text and image, and culture in the form of a photo of a cultural expression-- in this case the Moulin Rouge in 1955.

Design is the human tendency to exert control over our environments in some way in order to live more pleasurable lives.

Culture is the way that people distinguish themselves as a group based on collectively decided norms, values, beliefs and practices.

Language is a way for people to communicate abstract ideas through symbols that have an agreed upon meaning.

Design influences culture because cultural expressions have distinct aesthetics that have been achieved through the design process. Design can also influence cultures to change through exposing groups of people to new ideas. Design influences language through its use of language.

Culture influences design because designers are conscious of different ethnic groups respond to the designs. Cultural changes must be expressed through new language.

Language, in it written form, provides the template of shapes to be used in designed communications. Language maintains culture through reiteration.

Response to blog prompt #2 (for week 4)

I watched this artist series film on Hillman Curtis' site because I don't think anyone had reviewed it yet. Stefan Sagmeister's philosophy on design was never overtly stated, but based on his exhibition/book "What I've learned in my life so far," the Hillman-Curtis video and this list of his core beliefs that I found his website, Sagmeister believes in:

1. Helping other people helps me
2. Having guts always works out for me
3. Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
4. Starting a charity is surprisingly easy
5. Being not truthful works against me
6. Everything I do always comes back to me
7. Assuming is stifling
8. Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on
9. Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted
10. Money does not make me happy
11. Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life
12. Keeping a diary supports personal development
13. Trying to look good limits my life
14. Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses
15. Worrying solves nothing
16. Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
17. Actually doing the things I set out to do increases my overall level of satisfaction.
18. Everybody thinks they are right.
19. If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first.
20. Low expectations are a good strategy.
21. Everybody who is honest is interesting.

hillmancurtis :: film and video :: Artist Series: Sagmeister 05 :: 347 756 5049

After I watched the video, I sifted through Sagmeister's website and found the following list of the six things he loves about his work:
Thinking about ideas and content freely – with the deadline far away.
Working without interruption on a single project.
Using a wide variety of tools and techniques.
Traveling to new places.
Working on projects that matter to me.
Having things come back from the printer done well.

After watching the Hillman-Curtis video I realized that Sagmeister was the designer in the "Helvetica" documentary who designed the Lou Reed album cover with the text written on Reed's face, and who also had an intern carve a new font into his torso. The work in the Hillman-Curtis video was mostly Sagmeister creating fonts out of manipulating everyday objects into letters, some of which were so camoflauged into their backgrounds that I had to pause the video to read the message. I respect Sagmeister as an artist because it seems that his does some socially responsible design work in addition to work for clients and takes time to artistically experiment for himself away from any work commitments.

"Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution"

AK Press describes the book like this: "Without the soldaderas there is no Mexican Revolution—they kept it alive and fertile, like the earth. They would be sent ahead of the rest to gather firewood and to light the fire. They kept it stoked during the long years of war. Without the soldaderas, the drafted soldiers would have deserted. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the militiamen couldn't understand why they shouldn't return to their homes at night. They would abandon their posts, leaving the trenches, watchtowers and barracks empty, and head home to their own beds without a care in the world. In Mexico, in 1910, had the soldiers not carried their homes on their backs—their soldadera with their folding beds, blankets, pots and provisions—the number of men who would have taken off to shelter themselves in a warm corner somewhere would have meant the end of their armies. This is the English edition of this remarkable collaboration between Mexico's best independent press, Ediciones ERA, and Mexico's Institute of Anthropology and History. The photographs in Las Soldaderas and Elena Poniatowska's commentary rescue the women of the Mexican Revolution from the dust and oblivion of history. These are the Adelitas and Valentinas celebrated in famous corridos mexicanos, but whose destiny was much more profound and tragic than the idealistic words of ballads. The photographs remind Poniatowska of the trail of women warriors that begins with the Spanish Conquest and continues to Mexico's violent revolution."





I read "Here's To You, Jesusa" by Elena Poniatowska. "Here's To You" is a novel about an extremely courageous and humble woman who becomes part of the Mexican Revolution because she had to follow her father and later her husband into the war to take care of their domestic needs. After reading the novel I realized that the only image I had seen of a woman in the Mexican Revolution was on a movie poster for the classic Mexican film "Los de Abajo" (it was a hand drawn image). I was so excited to see the photos above in the "Las Soldaderas" book because it made the lives of those women real. It is important for me to find images like this because I didn't feel like I grew up with images of strong, important women. If I have children I think it will be even more important that I can introduce them to the images of real life heroines who have contributed to human history because I imagine that our visual world will be even more saturated with images of women that sexualize their bodies. I would hope that the movements for greater gender equality will help to counteract some of the effects that advertising can have on women by the time I have kids, but I know that it is my responsibility to find those visuals that can give my kids an alternative view of society-- one in which intelligence, perseverance and conviction are to be respected, regardless of a woman's aesthetic appearance. Because role models are essential to good self-esteem.

To add to our class's graffiti discussion

As I was checking out the AK Press blog, the image of the cover of this new book caught my eye. "Protest Graffiti Mexico: Oaxaca" is described like this on the AK Press website: "On October 27, 2006, Mexican police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the city of Oaxaca, killing three people (including American journalist Brad Roland Will), and the world became aware of a social conflict that at its core was about the right to an education. Since 1981, teachers in the Mexican state have held annual strikes, but 2006 was the first time that violence erupted. Within hours of these shootings, graffiti calling the region's governor a murderer was sprayed throughout the city. The graffiti that has since overwhelmed the historic city center constitutes the protest art of a community rising up.

Unlike in other cities where graffiti is recognized by many as a form of public art, in Oaxaca, graffiti became a way of achieving justice through community organization, creating and facilitating an ongoing dialogue of rage. And because teachers in Mexico are primarily women, the graffiti is very much inspired by and made by women.

Oaxaca resident Elaine Sendyk took the photographs in this book during the summer of 2007. Depicting oppression, empowerment, and the messages of struggle and revolt, this graffiti echoes universal desires, making for stunning and poignant visuals that remind readers: 'We Are All Oaxaca!'"

I went to Oaxaca as a volunteer for Amigos de las Americas to do health care work in a town about 40 minutes outside of Oaxaca City in 2001. At that time, Oaxaca City didn't feel oppressive nor overflowing with public art. I am a huge fan of public art that has been well executed. In the context of this book, it is impressive to me that artists are able to take the time to design beautiful images that convery political messages (probably because I don't have a knack for that sort of thing). I think that using public spaces as a place to express political dissent is a creative solution to the resistance's radio station being seized by the government because, if the government is not responding to other forms of dialog with the teachers, then the teachers and their supporters have to find a way to get their case heard (or in this case, seen). Public art can be an effective means of communication because the audience can take in the image and its meaning without consciously trying to do, if for example, a politician goes downtown to get a bite for lunch and he sees a graffitied message on his route to lunch (or home or wherever). I am not so optimistic to think that just street art will change the way the Oaxacan government is treating its teachers, but I do think that in a city whose downtown is relatively free of large scale advertising, large amounts of protest art will effect the teachers' struggle in a positive way even if the politicians can tune it out (like, for example, by recruiting more people to the cause or uplifting the teachers' spirit). Hasta un amanecer nuevo!

Typeface Innovation

'Green' Font Cuts Costs and Saves Trees

By Jonathan Haeber

http://blogs.bnet.com/bnet1/?p=111

August 8th, 2007 @ 9:22 am

Here’s a quick tip to cut costs in the office: Pare down your printing voracity. In the process you’ll also help the environment. CNET TV recently reported on an innovation by GreenPrint, a small start-up in Portland, Ore. Its flagship font — Evergreen — puts the maximum amount of text it can fit on a page while still maintaining readability. Evergreen reduces your paper footprint by 15-20% when compared with Times New Roman and Arial. Not only that, but the T’s look like tiny trees!

Still not convinced enough to become a green printing proponent? GreenPrint’s softwareautomatically clips superfluous banner ads and sidebar junk before you print out web pages. Big companies can save up to 4,000 trees a year, 12,000 tons of emitted carbon, and pocket an extra $2 million a year in paper and ink savings— enough to make any cost-cutting corporation green with envy.

I looked up the "green font" because someone at work told me that it was a font that someone came up with that didn't put ink down on the paper like normal fonts do. My coworker said that the font was designed to put small spots down so that less ink was used (the font couldn't be blown up very large, but in normal business sizes one couldn't tell that each letter wasn't completely black).

You would think that someone would have invented a font that could have saved corporations this much money a long time ago. I guess it's good that businesses are now having to seriously look at how they are spending their money and investing time and energy into coming up with creative ways to cut corners (and in this case the way they can do it won't put people out of work). The environmentalist in me thinks it's sad that corporations never looked into how "green strategies" could help them save money before this economic recession. Did they just stay away from everything that was even remotely associated with doing good things with their power because they just assumed it would be more expensive? Does anyone know about corporations that are making changes to how they run things to be more environmentally friendly? When I googled the term "Green corporation," all I found was a BusinessWeek article published in 2007 called "Beyond the Green Corporation." How else can I find that kind of information?