October 2023

We, the dissident

During the Monash Design Study Tour that I participated in at Monash’s campus in Prato, Italy in 2023, I had to design an outcome focussed on the topic ‘Survival’. The scope of this project was open to personal interpretation, so long as the design had a connection to the concept of survival, and ideally related to the Italian context in which we were working in.

In preparation, I thought extensively about the social relationship between survival and design. I also considered our introductory studies of modern Italian design and the Global Tools movement that were the foundation of the study tour. With all of this in mind, I developed a project that considered ‘Survival’ through protest. Protest and social movements were quintessentially linked with modern design in Europe, as design practioners often intertwined their work with the social context they existed within. Visual graphics have been used extensively through time by dissenters in order to advocate social changes, fight inequaltiies and oppose discrimination. The protest poster can be an important symbol of rebellion and alert the public to political issues.

Further, I wanted to take the trip as an opportunity to connect with the current social issues and concerns of the Italian youth, and immerse myself in that geographical context. As such, I designed and screen-printed two protest posters that responded to a relevant and current political issue in Italy. A few months prior to my arrival in the country, a protest movement had arisen amongst students and young people in Italy in response to the introduction of anti-rave legislation preventing the occupation of public and private spaces for hosting raves. The organised protest movement labelled “Smash Repression” took place across the country, but particularly energetically in highly student-populated cities like Bologna. At the protests, people danced behind trucks blasting techno music in parades through the streets.

Through researching this issue, I was able to come up with posters representative of the importance of music and entertainment to the young people of the country, but also of the broader moral issues regarding government restrictions of public space. I used illustration and lettering that would signify the main themes of the movement. In the spirit of protest poster history, these posters were screenprinted at Lottozero (an art studio in the city). I also printed onto some cotton t-shirts, as a more mobile form of visual protest. My work was displayed throughout the town to get a sense of public responses, and resulting in me having to take them down per police request.

As part of the brief, I developed a website that featured an expansive documentation of my research, creative process and design outcome. This can be viewed here.

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