Columbia College Chicago students in the class Art, Design & Change: Engaging Community through the Arts & Design, taught by Melissa H. Potter, PhD, explored community engagement within the practices of art and design, examining how individuals and institutions collaborate to employ creative practices addressing social justice.
Through varied sources, including additional instruction from archives staff and activist organizations in the city, students investigated the aesthetics, structure, and practice of artists, performers and designers who seek to affect social change through public protest. As culminating work, students created their own protest poster or wearable or distributable image inspired by the ChicagoAnti-Apartheid Movement poster collection.and their in-class research on topics such as racial injustice, gender injustice, economic injustice, cultural injustice, or environmental injustice, topics mirroring social protest during the pandemic.