By Stephanie Vicente BA Design for Art Direction My creative practice is most definitely political. In saying this, it does not mean the main focus of my practice is politically driven, however, my work revolves a lot around the topics of sustainability and sociology. This in itself, in the current climate crisis and evidence of political demotivation to address systemic issues as well as inaction towards making substantial positive change for a better living future, makes my work political. To expand on this, I will use an example of my own work. The one critical incident that led me to realise my work as political was when designing a visual essay with an open brief. Through constantly changing ideas and research topics I landed on a Guardian article of photos by the photographer Daniel Beltrá depicting the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Fig.1). Although the imagery is aesthetically pleasing, they depict a harrowing reality of unsustainable practices that result in tragic consequences such as the deaths of workers and ocean pollution. When researching further, I discovered there to be evidence showing the oil and gas industry had knowledge about climate change decades ago, from their funding of scientific investigations such as the Brandon Report 1957 funded by Exxon Mobil, one of the largest fossil fuel corporations and the Robinson Report 1968 conducted by Stanford research institute. With this knowledge, the oil and gas industry was able to make decisions about their production methods, such as designing their oil rigs 2 metres higher to take into account the future sea-level rise, yet this industry would publicly deny climate change. How does this tie into politics? The former CEO of Exxon Mobil became the 69th U.S. secretary of state and saw large tax cuts to the oil and gas industry during the time he served. Politics and sustainability and interconnected, therefore, when your work is based on sustainability and climate change, it becomes inherently political. Whether this is intentional or not. The design industry has begun to give serious attention to sustainable designs for the future. One example of this is the ‘Make It Circular Challenge’, by the international organisation What Design Can Do in partnership with the IKEA Foundation. The challenge highlights design projects based on circular design methods that reimagine 5 topics; how we package, how we build, what we eat, what we wear and what we buy. Reading and submitting to this challenge gave me the opportunity to reflect on my practice and analyse my SIP project on how it could potentially function in the real world and the process of realising an idea. Using design can be a powerful political move by the voices of thousands vs the powerful voices of the few. ‘Every design either “serves or subverts” the status quo. Design is never neutral.’ Tony Fry in “Design Futuring” (2009). One key example of this in the context of social movements is; the I AM A MAN signs during the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike during the civil rights movement. The strike was about the economic disparity of sanction workers and the breaking point after the deaths of two sanitation workers; Echol Cole and Robert Walker. The signs were seen in the masses and assisted the strike in creating a powerful and bold visual representation of the striker’s message and carried deep meaning that is still used and relevant today. During my Art direction course, I have become more familiar with graphic design, and have adapted my practice to the skills I have learnt. Researching design in social contexts, such as the I AM A MAN signs, strengthened my view that social design, especially in protests, carries a heavy meaning that can never be neutral. In conclusion, when thinking about how design situates in the world and how I can situate my own practice, I refer to the words of Jerome Lutters in the book Creative Theories of (Just About) Everything; “Wherever there are destructive forces at hand— in politics, in economics, in climate, to name just a few— there is a need for new creativity. Perhaps it is difficult to understand, but the creative policy should be a counter-strategy”. When design is not neutral, it in some way, shape or form, is political. Therefore, if my work revolves around sustainability and/ or social issues, there is no way it can be impartial. Bibliography: Fry, T. (2018). Design Futuring : sustainability, ethics and new practice. Bloomsbury Publishing. L. Brown, D. (2018). ‘I Am a Man’: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers’ strike that led to MLK’s assassination. [online] Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/02/12/i-am-a-man-the-1968-memphis-sanitation-workers-strike-that-led-to-mlks-assassination/ Lutters, J (2020). Creative Theories of (Just About) Everything. Valiz, Amsterdam. Spill by Daniel Beltrá - in Pictures, (2013). The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2013/dec/09/spill-daniel-beltra-in-pictures Make it Circular Challenge. (n.d.) https://makeitcircular.whatdesigncando.com/about/ (Figure 1) ‘The saturated, rich colours - and the interesting lines and forms they create - result in it what appears, seen from a distance, like contemporary abstract expressionist paintings Photograph: Daniel Beltra for Greenpeace/Spill (Figure 2)
After two men were crushed in a garbage truck, more than 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike 50 years ago to protest abysmal wages and working conditions. They won the support of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Richard L. Copley)
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