Them and Us

Them-And-Us is an initiative aimed at bringing together 20 European and 20 African visual artists, designers, illustrators and photographers. The project aims to explore the similarities and differences between first and third world views and aesthetics by pairing up artists from Europe with their African counterparts.

Through a series of 20 double sided posters, artists are invited to explore the notion of ‘Them–And–Us’ and the broader theme of tolerance (or intolerance).

Working in two prescribed colours, each artist will create a poster. The reverse will feature a poster designed by an artist from the other continent. Each pair of artists will be paired and introduced at the outset of the project. Together each team will choose a specific theme, such as ‘Light–And–Dark’ or ‘Smart–And–Dumb’ and communication and cross polination will be encouraged. The final outcome should be two posters that talk to each other yet are distinctly the product of their respective makers.

The final 40 posters will be packaged together along with a 64 page publication profiling each of the artists involved and detailing the purpose and process of the project. Them–and–Us will be exhibited in Durban, Cape Town, Stockholm and London early in 2010. All proceeds from sales will go to Amnesty International to help in the global fight against intolerance.

Them–And–Us is curated by South African design studio, disturbance, Stockholm resident and graphic designer, Noel Pretorius and British designer/writer Adrian Shaughnessy who will also write and edit the accompanying publication.

A really interesting project and the packaging of the publication caught my eye, as did the simplistic use of colour and geometric shapes to convey the different viewpoints of european and african artists/designers.