Human rights charity Amnesty International has teamed up with 50 young artists – from designers and photographers to cartoonists and poets – and no-waste merch makers Everpress, to create 50 T-shirt designs on the theme of censorship. From NTS logo designer Adam Tickle’s ‘Utopia’ motif, to photographer Katie Silvester’s picture of her friend holding a flower over her nipple (an IRL version of emoji-censoring on Instagram), and Carri Munden’s unhappy face showing its middle finger (a rare resurrection of her cult London label Cassette Playa), the graphics range from the abstract to the specific.
London streetwear label Radical Boulevard designed a T-shirt to commemorate the tragedy of the Grenfell fire in 2017; hip-hop culture magazine BRICK printed the real New York Times article, "Obscenity or Art? Trial on Rap Lyrics Opens" from 1990; and stylist Charlotte Moss used the historic image of suffragette Emily Wilding Davison protesting for women’s rights on the racecourse at Epsom, where she was knocked down and killed by the king’s horse.
"Censorship is often the thin end of the wedge when it comes to human rights violations," says Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK. "Time and time again, we’ve seen cases of brave human rights defenders in repressive countries being subjected to censorship, then threatened and harassed, and then finally jailed or even killed. We’re delighted to be working with Everpress and this incredible array of designers to raise awareness of the evils of censorship."
The T-shirts are available here. All designs are £25 each, with 50% of the profit going to the artist, and 50% to charity. With work from streetwear brands such as Sukeban, photographers like Ysa Pérez, fashion designers including Liam Hodges, filmmaker Dexter Navy, and artists like Joy Miessi, £25 is very, very good value. And the profits support both young creative talent and the international fight against human rights abuses. It’s the perfect guilt-free way to top up your summer wardrobe.
Adam Tickle
" The media will let you believe the world is in a pretty shitty place right now, let's work together to reach a utopian society." – Adam Tickle
Adam Tickle is a graphic designer and art director. An early member of seminal London blog BNTL, Tickle went on to brand now-iconic platforms NTS and Boiler Room, art directing Goodhood and Boiler Room. Today, he lives and works in Sweden, heading up content for Sneakersnstuff.
Brecht Vandenbroucke
"I decided to draw a parrot because of their ability to 'talk' and the unfiltered noises they make. Parrots don't hold back, honouring their freedom of speech. Speaking freely and being able to formulate individual thoughts benefits us all, as it helps us filtering out the good ideas from the bad." – @brechtvandenbroucke
Brecht Vandenbroucke is a Ghent-based young artist whose expansive and unapologetic paintings are inspiring some and offending others. Themes in his work range from civil unrest to homophobia and racism, providing a platform for Vandenbroucke to comment on society and its various flaws, old and new.
BRICK
@brickthemag @hayleylouisabrown
BRICK is a music and lifestyle publication that represents the new age of hip-hop culture, founded and creative-directed by renowned photographer Hayley Louisa Brown.
Cassette Playa (right)
"I reworked this Cassette Playa character because it’s the perfect visual interpretation of my views on censorship – basically, fuck censorship. The internet should be a free space for creativity, communication, discussion, and activism. It’s a virtual space that should tell multiple stories, but it’s also a space that should be controlled enough to remove hate speech, hate groups, cyber bullying, and to protect our personal data and young people. As a global community we need to come to an understanding of what is healthy control and what is censorship." – @carri_munden @cassetteplaya
Cassette Playa played a pivotal role in British fashion and streetwear from its creation in 2005 to its close in 2015, known for its use of cult graphics, digital printing, and early adoption of future technologies such as augmented reality. Carri Munden, the mind behind the multi-award-winning brand, has brought Cassette Playa back to life for 50/50, reworking her iconic imagery.
Toby Evans (left)
@toby1tooth @superimpose.studio
Toby Evans is a London-based graphic designer, regular contributor to the graphic artwork of Palace and Boiler Room, and cofounder of creative agency Superimpose Studio.
Dexter Navy (left)
"My answer to censorship is freedom and peace, and to me this image shows a time in a young person’s life when the word censorship doesn’t exist!"
Dexter Navy is a filmmaker and photographer. Across both mediums his aim is to create work that is psychedelic, cinematic and at all times holds an authentic feeling. Discovered and commissioned by i-D via Tumblr at the age of 18, Navy has gone on to regularly collaborate with A$AP Rocky, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Video and MTV VMA for Best Editing for his L$D music video.
Maria Falbo (right)
See slide 12
Liam Hodges
London-based designer Liam Hodges has interest in 'an expressive, polysyllabic masculinity'. His brand has been labelled a luxury brand for the mad and bad ones who are desirous of everything and those who forsake conformity every day, not just at the weekend. Signature Liam Hodges means wide silhouettes, patchworking, hardwearing workwear and sportswear; influences drawn from modern male subcultures, English paganism, hip-hop, skatewear, UK streetwear and post-punk.
India Rose
"On both an emotional and an economic level, pictures and words have the power to make us rich or poor. Why are we shown one picture and not another? These decisions create a broad consensus, while revealing preferences determined by economic and social relations. They are merely an opinion, yet never named as such." – @indiaros.e
London-based stylist and creative director, India Rose has been making waves out on her own for years, carefully crafting a strong and purposeful aesthetic. More recently, she has taken on art direction of Apron Records and consults Boiler Room on their merchandise.
Joshua Saunders
"After researching the idea of censorship, I came across a recent news story featuring a list of banned phrases on social media in China. 'I don’t agree' being one of them. I combined that idea with a simple icon of a desktop computer from the '90s. A pre-social media symbol." – @joshuajamessaunders
Typographer and graphic designer Joshua Saunders is a workaholic. His motto "Never Not Working" can be found in regular iterations on his Instagram, always hand-drawn to a level of excellence. His work is so striking that it’s garnered him branding commissions from END. and Urban Industry, as well as a few years under the wing of renowned typographer Neville Brody at Brody Associates.
Joy Miessi
"I wanted to create a design that reflected on my childhood memories and that initial realisation of censorship. From those early days I’ve always visualised it as some kind of screen or filter overlapping a layer of truth. I created a line drawing of myself using pastels which I then scanned and worked into digitally added layers of colours on top." – @joymiessi
Joy Miessi is a London-based artist. Miessi translates moments, conversations, feelings and intimate thoughts into visual pieces for reflection. Social themes such as race, gender and sexuality reoccur in her work and are translated through abstract shapes, figures and writing.
Leif Podhajský
"I’ve gone with a direct approach which explores the inseparable links between surveillance and censorship. Highlighting government programs for spying on their citizens as a means of filtering information and control over populations." – @leifpodhajsky
Leif Podhajský is an Australian graphic designer and art director, known for his distinctive album art for artists such as Bonobo, Foals, Kylie Minogue, Lykke Li, The Horrors, Mount Kimbie, Santigold, Kelis, Tensnake and London Grammar. His artwork has featured on clothing by Nike, whisky bottles by Ballantine’s, and snowboards by Burton. Podhajský is also a director at Horizons Studio, which creates bespoke virtual reality experiences and applications.
Malik Roberts
"With this design I wanted to shed light on the earliest form of censorship, censorship of the human body." – @malik.roberts.art
Malik Roberts is a Brooklyn-based painter and multimedia artist creating deconstructed portraits with controversial contemporary subjects, which explore the relationship between visual culture and reality today.
Maria Falbo
(The back of the shirt reads: "Italian TV cuts gay scenes from Brokeback Mountain. Espresso group to sue Berlusconi.")
"I believe sexuality is fluid; the fact that gay scenes were cut from Brokeback Mountain on Italian TV is a denial of human spirit. It’s removing the core story of the film, a blossoming romantic relationship between two men. Our T-shirt is in support of the Espresso group challenging censorship and repression of human spirit." – @mariafalbo__@copsonlondon
One half of Copson London, Falbo is a known face on the London skate and fashion scene.
Pedro Inoue
“All Censors Are Blind.” – @pedroinoue
Pedro Inoue is a Brazilian graphic artist and designer, originating from São Paulo. Inoue is currently creative director of Adbusters magazine and has collaborated on projects with David Bowie, Damien Hirst and Ryuichi Sakamoto. He also writes columns for WARP magazine and Shiseido.
Radical Boulevard
Radical Boulevard is a London streetwear label that "spits in the lazy blind eye of injustice and provides a charming slap in the barbaric face of corruption". An early part of Trapstar, Radical Boulevard has been a part of the London scene for a long time.
Shaz Madani
"I am originally from Iran, a country where much of the media is controlled and external content is blocked. I wanted to demonstrate censorship through an absence of content." – @shaz_madani
Shaz Madani is a London-based designer and art director. She is the woman behind the slick aesthetic of Riposte magazine, among various other projects.
Sukeban
"Sukeban is a platform that supports POC talent and fashion imagery that looks beyond the tokenisation and fetishisation of minority models. Our efforts against homogenisation is our response to censorship – we refuse to be ignored, or silenced." – @sukebangang
Sukeban magazine is the brainchild of Yuki Haze and Erika Bowes, created to counter the lack of inclusivity in fashion and music, especially for women of colour and young talent.
Thierry Noir
Thierry Noir was born in 1958 in Lyon, France, and came to Berlin in January 1982. In April 1984, Noir began to paint the Berlin Wall and is credited as being the first artist to do so. Noir's objective was to perform one real revolutionary act: to paint the Berlin Wall, to transform it, to make it ridiculous, and to help destroy it, preempting its ultimate fall in 1989. Noir’s paintings have gone on to become recognisable features of cities throughout the world.
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