‘Present it in an unexpected way’: Artists use design to draw attention to women’s rights

Peggy Stansbery, Spectrum Editor

Artists from around the world use design to capture viewers’ attention while informing them of the gender inequality women face globally. 

The exhibition “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” will be displayed at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design from Oct. 6 through Feb. 17, 2024. The exhibition will include posters addressing gender-based inequality, violence and discrimination made by women and men from different cultures, perspectives and attitudes, according to the museum’s website. 

The museum will host accompanying programming such as daily screenings of the film “Some American Feminists” and a workshop in conjunction with the YWCA, according to Heather Ernst, The Branch’s acting director and curator of the exhibition. 

The Branch chose to host the exhibition because it aligns with its mission as it showcases the impact of design communicating social issues, Ernst said. 

“It addresses a critical topic that encourages conversation and raises awareness and empowers communities to work towards a more equitable and productive future through the lens of design,” Ernst said. 

Design is an effective platform for spreading social justice because it can inspire people visually, bring attention to certain causes and inspire conversation, Ernst said. 

“I hope that people see that design can be used as a tool to communicate social issues,” Ernst. “And specifically, regarding women’s rights, that we still have a lot of work to do.”

This exhibition originally premiered in September 2016 at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and since then has been installed in galleries and museums around the world, according to Elizabeth Resnick, organizer and curator of the exhibition. 

Resnick created this exhibition to shine a spotlight on gender inequality, she said. Having been a design educator for the past 40 years, she also had the motivation to show art and design students visual graphic design solutions that inform and educate the population on issues. 

Resnick hopes this exhibition brings a better understanding of the situation existing around the world for women, she said. For change to happen people need to be informed and believe that this inequality exists. 

Inviting, finding, locating and interacting with the artists featured in the exhibition has resonated with Resnick, she said. Since they are not participating for financial gains but because they feel a need to have a say about the issues in the world. 

“Whether it’s posters, films, painting, sculpture, creative people have a duty of some level, to use their creativity in positive ways,” Resnick said. 

When artists create work to educate a population and spread a message, this work must be shared and seen in person as it’s more effective when seen at its intended scale, Resnick said. The scale allows the work to reach out and grab the viewer, allowing them to resonate with it. 

“That’s what’s so important about attending these kinds of exhibitions because the posters are printed the size that they were designed — the size that they are meant to be seen at,” Resnick said. “It’s a very powerful, visual, visceral experience for any human being.”

When Resnick first created this exhibition, she invited designers who used strong conceptual and highly developed visual solutions to express their messages, she said. Some of these designers included graphic and poster designers Alice Drueding and Joe Scorsone, who have three posters featured in the exhibition. 

Drueding and Scorsone create their work together in collaboration through conversation, according to Drueding. The majority of their work focuses on socio-political and environmental topics. 

Their featured posters in the exhibition highlight fistula, acid violence against women and sexual slavery, according to Drueding. They hope their art raises awareness around these topics, as many of them, such as fistula, are rarely discussed. 

Fistula is a medical condition that women suffer from; it’s a very intimate injury, which is why people don’t often talk about it, according to Drueding. 

Acid violence against women acts as retribution in some cultures, used for instances such as a woman going to school or talking to a man not approved by the family, according to Drueding.

The show has grown since the first exhibition, as many designers see gender-based inequality as an important issue, Drueding said. 

“This fight was a lot more difficult than I initially thought,” Drueding said. “Over the recent years, I realized that misogyny is alive and well in many, many parts of the world and it’s not going to go away anytime soon. It’s not going to go away unless women really stand their ground.” 

The posters in the show feature a variety of styles, messages and information surrounding gender-based inequality, Drueding said.

As designers, they are trained to cut through noise and have the power to attract attention to their messaging, Drueding said.

“It’s very easy to ignore the messages around us because there’s so many, and many of them are familiar, so you see something that’s familiar, and immediately you can just miss that,” Drueding said. “But with art, you can present it in an unexpected way.” 

Artists must use this power responsibly and as a way of contributing to the conversation, Drueding said. She hopes people leave the exhibition changed by what they’ve seen.

“An image has this ability to kind of live on in your head,” Drueding said. “So if you project a really powerful image to someone it can have real staying power, so that long after they’ve seen the work, the image and all the ideas that it’s going to generate continue to percolate in someone’s mind.”