Can You Hear Me Now?

UPDATE The Utne Reader has written a lovely little post about the new poster. Read it here.

The new poster for Poster Offensive has been printed and delivered. Poster Offensive is an independent, non-partisan poster show, which utilizes the politically potent medium of the poster to showcase contemporary interpretations and critiques of political and social issues. There have been four Poster Offensives, the last of which coincided with the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

For previous Poster Offensive shows, I’ve examined datasets involving genocide, for this one I decided to examine the state of conflict minerals in Africa and our dependence on them for high-tech gadgets, computers and other detritus of daily life. Cassiterite, which is the mineral I write about in this poster, is actually being touted as a green solution to tin and other more harmful minerals. I was having trouble envisioning data for this piece, so instead looked at interweaving two narratives which is a technique I’ve used in a couple pieces – most recently Neighbors. The narratives here show two perspectives of artisanal mining through the eyes of a pro-mining marketing piece, and those of a mine worker. The poster was screen printed using silver and dark red representing the mineral and the blood shed in the pursuit of said mineral. The poster is then printed with a varnish coat overlaying a re-interpretation of the Congolese coat-of-arms. The poster is printed on a heavy cover stock from French papers. Much love out to Lucas Richards for the printing.

Here are some of the posters done for past shows.