Red Line Service, Chicago, IL
Printmaking has long been the medium of choice for political protest. From the Paris Commune to the Mexican Revolution to the civil rights movement, each had comrades manning the presses. Enter the Red Line Service Printmakers, in benefit of the revolution that is needed to get the United States to finally ratify the UN declaration of housing as a human right. For this ongoing endeavor, five artists with a lived experience of homelessness—-Shay Jones, Efren Paderes, James Williams, Marcela Adele Okeke, and Dave Scott-—worked collaboratively to create a series of posters for the cause. The graphics are a combination of traditional hand-cut forms and digital lettering; the impact is classically hard-hitting and direct. Activist posters are not about subtlety: the hearts here are the kind that pump blood, that freeze when the thermostat drops. The Human Rights Program at the University of Miami has built a website for the print campaign’s distribution, which will hopefully find its way to bus shelters, billboards, and noticeboards everywhere.
—Lori Waxman 10/5/2024 5:51 PM