Stories

We offer a lively monthly program of online workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and networking events around the politics of design.

Learning

We offer a lively monthly program of online workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and networking events around the politics of design.

Community

We are a globally-dispersed team of mostly womxn and non-binary designers, writers, journalists, editors, researchers, educators, artists, activists and beyond.

#Past Lecture

Finding Louise E. Jefferson

May 14, 2021 | 5 pm CEST | with Tasheka Arceneux-Sutton, artist, educator, designer, and researcher


Finding Louise E. Jefferson

This lecture is centered around the life and works of Louise E. Jefferson, a polymath Black artist, graphic designer, calligrapher, illustrator and photographer, whose significant contributions to American visual culture are still largely unknown. More than sharing research findings and biographical notes, this presentation aims to provide insights into “chasing images”—that is to say, researching history as a graphic designer. Taking participants in a metaphorical road trip through the meandering paths of discovery, Tasheka will lead us from her first encounter with the works of Louise E. Jefferson, to opening the box with her archived works at The Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, and beyond.

Tasheka Arceneaux-Sutton is an educator, image-maker, graphic designer and researcher. Originally from New Orleans, Tasheka has a BA in English with a minor in Graphic Design from Loyola University, and an MFA in graphic design from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). In graduate school, Tasheka discovered her true voice as a graphic designer, where she experimented with typography and publication design, and investigated the authenticity of the visual language that is associated with African American pop culture, and the history of black graphic designers. Tasheka runs her studio BlacVoice, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Southeastern Louisiana University where she teaches graphic design, typography, motion design and internet design. She is also co-founder of the online program BIPOC Design History. Her work has been included in group exhibitions: Mentors Centennial (New Orleans), How A Book Is Made (New Orleans), The Department of Fine and Performing Arts Faculty (Hammond, LA), Joie De Vivre: A Meditation in New Orleans, Katrina & The U.S. (Chicago), Re:GardingValencia (Valencia, CA), Boomerang (New Orleans), and Eclectica (New Orleans).

Register here for the Against the Grain Online Course to watch the lecture synchronously and asynchronously


This lecture is part of the Against the Grain Online Course:

April 16 | 5 pm CEST
Decolonizing Colonial Desire
with Uzma Rizvi

April 23 | 5 pm CEST
Deforestation as Epistemicide
with Franca López Barbera

April 30 | 5 pm CEST
Imperial Fevers, Invisible Lives
with Edna Bonhomme

May 7 | 5 pm CEST
The Frame of History
with Evan Nicole Brown

May 14 | 5 pm CEST
Finding Louise E. Jefferson
with Tasheka Arceneux-Sutton

May 21 | 5 pm CEST
Ladies of Letters
with Bahia Shehab

May 28 | 5 pm CEST
Salted Waters in the Whorls of Time
with Luiza Prado de O. Martins

June 4 | 5 pm CEST
Visualising the Invisible
with Sria Chatterjee