To record the current landscape of women in design and give visibility to the unsung diversity of Aotearoa design, Designers Speak Up made an open call early this year to all designers, artists and educators from the Directory of Women* Designers to design a poster using the medium to explore and address any issue social, cultural, or political issue of their choice.
Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa launched in May 2019 at RAMP Gallery, Kirikiriroa and more than 100 posters have been presented in various forms – from printed to projected to published online.
Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa is an opportunity to give visibility and voice to all women/wāhine/womxn-identifying and non-binary designers to speak up using the poster medium. The project is a space for myriad voices to be heard, supported and championed in the wholehearted, collective way that is the Designers Speak (Up) kaupapa.
We went for a little mission into Auckland City to check out Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa | Britomart Works on Paper.
We found my poster which focuses on mental health, asking 'Are you ok?'.
The poster asks a viewer a question. The calligraphy within repeats “It’s ok to not be ok”.
Are you ok? Is everything ok? If it’s not, that is ok. What you are feeling is valid and there are ways to help you feel better.
Mental health does not discriminate, it can affect anyone.
Check in with yourself, check in with your family and friends, check in with our society.
Talk.
This was such a great project to be part of and the red and white looks so great downtown.
All posters and texts are being collected onto the Designers Speak (Up) online poster archive and Instagram.
https://designersspeakup.nz/present-tense-gallery/
https://www.instagram.com/designersspeakup/
A huge thanks to Studio Catherine Griffiths for creating this project and the team of people who have pulled it together around New Zealand.
