Greetings from Jesusland: Designing Protest in Rural America
Grace Kelley
I'm from a very small town in rural Georgia. When I first moved to New York City, I was unsurprised but annoyed at how condescending New Yorkers can be about Southerners. "You don't have an accent! You sound normal!" (What's "normal?") "What sorority did you rush in college?" ( . . . Hufflepuff?) "Did you ride a horse to school?" (No, but I did drive a manual pickup truck.)
But one thing that annoyed me the most was "Aren't you so glad to be out of the South? It's so racist there!" To paraphrase Malcom X, everything south of Canada is racist. So, what are we going to do about it?
But one thing that annoyed me the most was "Aren't you so glad to be out of the South? It's so racist there!" To paraphrase Malcom X, everything south of Canada is racist. So, what are we going to do about it?
Websites I've coded using JavaScript for people to interact with
Space Abrams A video game featuring Stacey Abrams that registers people to vote in Georgia. Type Your Truth A website that generates a protest graphic with the user's own message The Revolution Will Not Be Instagrammed A Pong game critical of the #BlackoutTuesday Instagram protest Battleground States Zine A zine about the issue of voter suppression in Georgia Give 'Em the Ol' Razzle Dazzle A site illustrating the purpose and potential of computer vision dazzle camouflage
Artist Statement
My thesis deals with unconventional intersections of design and activism. Through cultural probes, I learned that people want to make meaningful change, but they're so afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing that they don't know how to begin.
Using designer Thomas Markussen's six types of protest design, I propose design interventions that illustrate the accessibility of activism. My thesis capstone puts these projects together into a zine, distributed to many activist collectives to engage people in the idea of protest design.
Using designer Thomas Markussen's six types of protest design, I propose design interventions that illustrate the accessibility of activism. My thesis capstone puts these projects together into a zine, distributed to many activist collectives to engage people in the idea of protest design.
I Can and I Will: A Protest Toolkit