GLOBAL REPRESENTATION

BRING MORE PEOPLE TO THE TABLE, CREATE A DIVERSE ENVIRONMENT

CHANGE THE SYSTEM
OF
PRIVILEGE AND OPRESSION

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Shea Couleé

- drag queen, costume designer (she/her while in drag, they/them while not)

Buck Angel

- transgender porn actor, created this sex toy designed for trans men

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Laolu Senbanjo

- Nigerian photographer, visual artist, musician, singer/songwriter and social activist

Sergei Parajanov

-Soviet filmmaker and Armenian artist

The works that are being used as the frame of reference within graphic design exists mostly of work that was made by white male designers. The most logical main reason for this fact lays in the unfair global divided prosperity that was created by unrighteous claiming (occupying) of parts of this world (colonialism) by the western part of the world true history and even in the present we are still dealing with this problem. Wealth creates opportunities and possibilities, therefore it is no big surprise that within the western world the priorities shifted and there was more room and attention for the art of making (writers, painters and designers).

Therefore we are now facing the fact that most art and design was created by western culture and developed trough the years by the standards of what western artists thought was the ‘best’ which resulted in the current standard as we know it today. Although many of the western artist still found inspiration in different cultures around the world, you can not escape the fact that the work originated from conceptualizing their own western surroundings in which the artist lives in, his or hers own paradigm and culture. Added to the fact that throughout history besides the fact that there was simply more wealth in the west, which gave more room for art and design, the art and design that was being made in different parts of the world was not included and mostly overlooked or where being seen as primitive. But even within the western culture artists where and still are being excluded because of sexual preference or because of the color of their skin.

Unfortunately we cannot change our history, but there are two things that we can and must do: first there is a need for a good digging in our global history and look at the work that has been made all over the world throughout the years and make it visible by showing it in museum and make it part of the courses at art academies, so that the canon can be supplemented. At second the times of excluding an artist because of his identity must be over. The only thing that matters is the work the artists makes, judging someone on their acts, that is the true meaning of equality. At last we need the social structures to change so that every ethnic group gets the same balanced wealth and therefore the same opportunities, but this is a socially complex problem that needs a change in the system. So broaden your view and be open.