The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy
Exhibition Catalogue
— PROJECT CLIENT
Banneker-Douglass Museum Annapolis, Maryland
— ROLE
Graphic Design
Branding
— DATE
September 2023
Urged by my client Myrtis Bedolla, the show's curator and owner and founding director of Galerie Myrtis, I submitted an estimate for this project. I am very thankful that I was given the opportunity to work with the Banneker-Douglass Museum to compile and design this exhibition catalogue.
After reviewing a few of my initial cover designs, Chanel Compton and Jan Lee decided they didn't want to pursue a traditional route but wanted the design to speak louder and sing.
They saw an intersection of resistance and joy at protests, so they asked me to explore this aesthetic using some of the show’s artwork as an inspiration. I explored using marker on cardboard and the original branding for the show. The design inspired by Charles Mason, III, was finally chosen.
BRANDING
My initial options explored handwritten alternatives with a marker-on-cardboard aesthetic touched on by several photographs and the use of the original branding for the exhibition. The option my client selected was inspired by the installations of Charles Mason, III.
I applied some rolled ink textures and mixed opacities to layer the text. I configured the design with the intent of filling the page as much as I could. The boldness of the typography conveys resistance, whereas the arrangement of the words is an expression of joy and resistance.
Here’s a detail of it’s unclear… what you are conditioned to think… to believe by Charles Mason, III.
I picked up some of the colors from his work. Instead of using the brush and crayon marks, I went with rolled ink textures to keep some distance between his work and the catalogue’s aesthetic.
TYPOGRAPY
I went back to the well with LDN Mammoth Woodblock. The versatility of this font for letterpress-inspired designs is just too difficult to resist. I'd love to see a version with mixed case, but as is it's one of the better font purchases I've made.
The body copy was set in Freight Pro Text. Joshua Darden's masterpiece has a nice mix of round and sharp features in its various styles that I think speak to the exhibit's themes.
SPECIAL THANKS
I'd like to thank the incredible artists who submitted their work and time to this inspiring exhibition.
Devin Allen, Tawny Chatmon, Wesley Clark, Larry Cook, Oletha DeVane, Edward D. Ghee, Sr., Phylicia Ghee, Jerrell Gibbs, Curlee Holton, Monica Ikegwu, Megan Lewis, Charles Mason, III, Wendel Patrick, Joyce J. Scott, and Chrystal Seawood.
I'd also like to thank the leadership at the Banneker-Douglass Museum.
Chanel Compton, Executive Director; Jan Lee, Director of Marketing and Communications; Schillica Howard, former Curator of Collections & Exhibits; Sabriyah Hassan, Programs Director; Theodore “Ted” Hyman, Security Officer; and Murray, Security Officer.
No special thanks section would be complete without thanking Myrtis Bedolla, the owner and founding director of Galerie Myrtis.