(See more below)
According to artist and founder of The Canary Project Edward Morris, the Green Patriot Posters project was launched to “create stronger, more broadly appealing imagery for the sustainability movement”. When he and his partners set up a website and asked designers to submit posters, they were intrigued by how many of them included bikes.
Green Patriot Posters is now a book co-edited by Morris and published by Metropolis Books (order it here and support BikePortland). Morris will be in Portland next week to talk about the posters and he was kind enough to get in touch and share a few of them with us…
On Thursday night (12/9) at Portland State University, Morris will explain why and how all three aspects of the book’s title, “Green”, “Patriot”, and “Posters”, go together.
As for why he thinks to many of the submissions included bike-related and/or anti-car messages? Here’s a snip he shared from the book:
“The bicycle is a nonthreatening, nonideological image, unsanctimonious and almost childlike. At the same time its mere presence is a direct challenge to our car culture, which drives so much CO2 into our atmosphere. It is also a symbol of individual responsibility and empowerment in the face of an overwhelming challenge. As we spoke mentioned above, the individual is the most resonant institution in our culture today, and it is probably no coincidence that the bicycle—a vehicle built for one—would be so resonant.”
In addition to the book and the speaking tour, Morris has worked to get posters from the book on bus stop ads and billboards throughout the country. Learn more and submit your poster at GreenPatriotPosters.org.
Here are details on the event next week:
Edward Morris, author of Green Patriot Posters
Thursday, 12/9 at 6:00 pm
PSU Shattuck Hall Annex (SW Broadway and Hall St, 2nd Floor of Shattuck Hall)
Reception to follow at Department of Architecture