An creative initiative to amplify Black voices

Black Outdoor Art (#blackoutdoorart) is a social initiative, that uses outdoor advertising in London, Leeds and Bristol, as a platform for positive Black creative expression and exploration in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The first activation of the initiative (from 2020-2023) was hosted by media agency Brotherhood Media, and curated by myself.

Black Outdoor Art commissions, produces and displays artwork created by the Black British creative community, from artists and designers to illustrators, around themes of racism, equality, empowerment, and our lived experience here in the UK.

The goal of the initiative is to inspire discussion, activism and change. Though I am aware that a poster campaign cannot produce the structural change necessary to dismantle racism, I believe that utilising marketing in this way can make for the fertile ground that may produce it.

Therefore, I see Black Outdoor Art as the marketing of antiracism. Art cannot produce societal change in itself, but it can disrupt. It can subvert what we expect to see around us, in our environments. It can add to a climate that desires real transformation.

Racism as an ideology has been able to endure for centuries, as it has been reinforced throughout society at every level. Through our institutions, through education, through culture. It is a set of ideas that has been aggressively marketed, to remove our very humanity. So undoing that racism must be both structural and ideological also.

By presenting a range and breadth of voices and perspectives, we hope to keep the conversation around racism and equality going – because it’s a conversation that needs to happen now.

My intent is for this campaign to impact the built environment around us, and how we engage with Design in a social context. To shape our own narratives, and build the kinds of connections that allow for empathy and understanding. For favourable conditions – the kind of conditions that might predicate change.

Our first activation featured work by Nadina Ali, Jahnavi Inniss, Kieron Boothe, Soz MateBwoywonder, Harkiran Kalsi, Kingsley Nebechi, Samuel Mensah, Ayo Akinwolere/Natasha Pszenicki, BokaniVenessa ScottMakayla Paul, Kay RufaiGlenn Lutz, Mr Trapart, and myself.

Black Outdoor Art is also a part of Art UK, a cultural, educational charity and the online home for every public collection in the UK. View the collection here.

For any questions, to host an activation or to be a part of the initiative, please get in touch.

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BOA1 - hosted by Brotherhood Media, 05.2020 - 05.2023

 

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BOA updates:

I gave a talk on Black Outdoor Art for Art UK’s Art Unlocked series. Full curation can be found here.

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I presented a talk on Black Outdoor Art at People Like Us in London, hosted by Snap Inc.

Black Outdoor Art has been added to Art UK, the online home for every public art collection in the UK.

In support of Black History Month UK, The Halcyon International School in London set a project for it’s students through October, inspired by my work on Black Outdoor Art.

Myself and creative Samuel Mensah were interviewed by BBC World (Focus on Africa) on August 31st 2020, about the Black Outdoor Art project, and Samuel’s “Black Is Still Beautiful” poster. We talk about Sam’s art, how Black Outdoor Art was initiated and the project host (Brotherhood Media), the implications of the project in our political climate, and what’s next for the campaign.

Black Outdoor Art in the press

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Type 01 – Design for Social, Amplifying Voices for Cultural Change. Interview, Jan 2021

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Greg Bunbury’s empowering street art campaign to amplify black creative voices, July 2020

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Branding and Black Lives Matter: will change be more than skin deep? Interview, June 2020

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Black Lives Matter: graphic design’s role in the protest movement interview, June 2020