March 22, 1999
Contact:
Laurent Pernot
(312) 413-4137
[email protected]
"Your man keeps a gun and you feel safe? Hello? More than 50 percent of women murdered by handguns are wives, ex-wives or girlfriends of the offender." That's one of more than a dozen gun-control messages included in a poster series designed by University of Illinois at Chicago graphic design students.
Their faculty advisor, John Greiner - who found a very attentive ear at Chicago's City Hall, where Mayor Richard Daley is suing gun manufacturers - thought "the mayor needs some help to get people to hear the mind-boggling statistics. Once they do, they won't want to touch a handgun."
While the students' work is not currently slated to appear as part of a formal ad campaign, the city did secure a very public space - the lobby of the Daley Center - for the students to take their message to Chicagoans and, just as importantly, the politicians and other public officials who come in and out of the building.
"An exhibit like this one is one more way that we can get out the message about handgun violence," said Daley. "It's one more way we can make people focus on the terrible destruction that handguns cause in our community." The exhibit will be viewable from April 1 until April 30.
"It's educational for both the students and the public," said Greiner, whose own design shows that life in everyday America can be as deadly as the battlegrounds of the Korean and Vietnam wars. "This connects the students to the city and the world, and that's what education is all about. And the public learns about a very real threat. We're using the power of design to get people to see these objects as the negatives they are."
Among the projects by UIC students is an image of a child running into a line of fire. Another, "Still Life with Bullet," consists of body bags hanging over a picture of a bullet on a dark background. One concept, designed as a kit for school children, urges kids to "learn to control your own power, rather than gun power." Kim Conrad-Junius, a graduate student in graphic design, decided to highlight the fact that most appliances are more regulated than handguns. "Lighters have more childproof features than guns," said Conrad-Junius. "Blow dryers are also more regulated. Are you more likely to kill someone with a blow dryer? I agree with people's right to protect themselves, but they should be informed about the dangers a firearm brings into their home.
The students conducted extensive research before beginning work on their designs, which Greiner hopes will be turned into postcards, posters, bus cards and educational packets.
The students also worked with Paul Goldstein, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics who teaches a course on the epidemiology of violence in the UIC School of Public Health. "Issues pertaining to gun control, and the contribution of guns to severity of violence in America, need to be analyzed by all segments of society," said Goldstein. "Artists have the ability to communicate these issues on a unique level and to stimulate important public discussion."
Digital files of selected artwork are available.
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