Columbia College Chicago students in the class taught by Melissa H. Potter, PhD, Art, Design & Change: Engaging Community through the Arts & Design, explored concepts of community engagement within the practices of art and design and examined how individuals and institutions collaborate to employ creative practices that address social justice through the lens of Columbia College Chicago Archives’ Anti-Apartheid Movement poster collection.
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 Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement 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..
