Forward, Together Forward Memorial

Forward, Together Forward Memorial

Approx. 8’x12’ Projected Stories on Sheer Sheets, 2013

On February 14, 2008 at Northern Illinois University, a former student opened gunfire on a lecture hall, killing five, injuring over thirty, and rocking an entire community. As a student on campus that day, I have my story, as do others. Yet, our stories are not usually aggregated, shared, or combined; through sharing our memories, we can process them individually. Collaborative storytelling allows us to put these stories together, forming an overall shape, without losing the texture of each individual narrative.

The properties of projected light on sheer screens evoke a spirit of solemnity and catharsis—a safe place to face a difficult subject. This collective begins to take a readable form, creating not only a public record, but a pulpit—shining light on greater issues of gun violence through the lens of human experience.

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Report to the Public: An Untold Story of the Conservative Vice Lords

Report to the Public: An Untold Story of the Conservative Vice Lords

Exhibition at Art In These Times, 2012

Regarded by some as innovative grassroots organizers and others as violent criminals, the history of the Chicago gang, the Conservative Vice Lords Inc. provides a lens for understanding the potential of grassroots organizing in urban communities.This evolving, multi-site project is a partnership between the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and former members of the Conservative Vice Lords, led by CVL spokesman Bobby Gore and Benneth Lee, co-founder of the National Alliance for the Empowerment of the Formerly Incarcerated.

Pages from a Vice Lords pamphlet can be viewed while listening to interviews, oral histories and other sound pieces
Visitors were encouraged to leave their thoughts on what the future of gangs in Chicago could look like by either writing on the board or calling the designated hotline and leave a message.
Portraits of Residents of North Lawndale by Jason Reblando over letters and artifacts from former Vice Lords

Ravinia Festival Poster

Ravinia Festival Poster

A1 Poster, 2013

Ravina is an outdoor music venue outside of Chicago, IL. Reflecting the variety of musical genres featured at the park, images of stringed instruments are layered together to build an amalgamated form. The long thin letterforms were specifically designed for this poster to further reference the strings.

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Preservation Detectives

Preservation Detectives

7” x 10” Educational Workbook, 2011

Part of a preservation initiative at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, visitors with children were given an activity book as an interactive guide to the historic house. Through hand-drawn illustrations and type, historic content and images are become relevant to a younger audience.

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Unfinished Business: Art Education

Unfinished Business: Art Education

Hull-House Museum Social Justice Exhibit, 2011

A community curated, participatory art exhibition that explores the importance of the arts and insists on cultural rights as part of a thriving democracy. The exhibit makes connections between Hull-House history and the contemporary moment, and seeks to unleash radical imaginations about a collective future. Interactive art-making stations throughout the space revive Hull- House’s commitment to learning-by-doing.

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Visitors sit at large-scale loom and contribute to a growing project.
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The steps of an historic dance choreographed by a Hull-House resident printed on the floor.

Redefining Democracy: Jane Addams and the Hull-House Settlement

Redefining Democracy: Jane Addams and the Hull-House Settlement

Hull-House Museum Core Exhibition, 2010

The Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to social reformer Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and her colleagues whose work changed the lives of their immigrant neighbors as well as national and international public policy. The Museum preserves and develops the original Hull-House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement.

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Why Every President Sucked

Why Every President Sucked

13”× 11” Hardcover Book, 2009

A collaboration with author and creative, Eric Olsen, this large-format book aims to halt a voter’s future search for presidential perfection by detailing how each and every former president has failed to live up to those expectations. Combining historic photography with clean shapes, blocks of color overlays, and handwritten typography, the traditional understanding if history is being reexamined under a new, scrutinous lens.

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All Caps Cafe Menu & Brochure

All Caps Cafe Menu & Brochure

4”x 8.5” folded; 16”x 8.5” open, 2009

This series of three menu brochures are for an international cafe that prepares and serves coffee through different cultural techniques: American, Italian, and Turkish. The brochures are printed one color on recycled paper with replaceable menus, reducing production costs and allowing for change.

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