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NPAC Land Back
2020 Native Peoples of the Americas Colloquium (NPAC) event, "Land Back" hosted by the University of Dayton. The event theme that year revolved around the Land Back movement and the passionate work by artist Whess Harman. From UD's NPAC landing page: "The Native Peoples of the Americas Colloquium is an annual gathering that shines light on Indigenous Peoples’ history, culture and spirituality through presentations, films, performances and workshops. The Native Peoples of the Americas Colloquium is coordinated by a planning committee of University faculty and staff, and local indigenous scholars and activists."
Process
The organizers really liked the sketch I had drawn up for the poster design and I was picked to lead the project. I was really drawn to the hand-lettering and embellishments, so we reached out to Whess and got their OK to use assets from their piece as part of our designs for the event. Vectorizing the border embellishments and main type, we were able to integrate in whatever aspect ratio we wanted. From there it was mainly incrementally adjusting spacing, kerning, or scaling of elements until it was just right. We also produced some Instagram and Facebook posts to inform others about the event. Finally, we produced some extra deliverables for the presentation itself.
Aside from the talks the speakers gave, I gained a ton of practical, real-life experience from this project. I am ever so grateful that we were able to work with real clients for this class because in doing so you can actually apply what you've learned for real. It was a fantastic experience.
The treatment of indigenous peoples by the US government even still to this day is entirely repugnant. Reparations wouldn't even cover half of the losses that have been forced upon those that lived here before us. The Land Back movement is an inspirational reminder that there is hope for the future. That we can do right by our support and guilt. Change starts with acknowledgement and educating people is surely among the first steps toward creating real, positive change.
