In solidarity with the student strike in Québec, and inspired by the work of l’École de la montagne rouge, Kim and I have designed a small portfolio of street posters for the movement. We’re hoping that once we get them up in the city they’ll help to encourage the students to continue their just struggle. The posters also aim to extend the critique of the tuition hikes to challenge the austerity politics that they are an intrinsic component of, and to firmly denounce the draconian measures the Charest government is using to enact them.

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English translation here.

In the midst of these tumultuous times, my good friend Frédéric Dubois is organising this timely community education event on the nefarious practices of the Canadian banking system. I helped him out by quickly designing this poster/handbill, inspired by the visuals of the student movement.

Hope to see you there!

While working on the Patrick Watson website I ran into a strange photoshop bug that produced these intriguing images. It’s really a pity I can’t reproduce the error because I find them quite beautiful!

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And it’s diamonds and gold for the idiot sons
All the privileged thieves gonna make things run
Well I believe in heart and apocalypse sound
You kick em in the head and you kick em when they’re down
And you don’t serve them
You don’t serve them
You don’t serve the people…

To coincide with the launch of Patrick Watson‘s latest album, Adventures in Your Own Backyard, I recently revamped his website with production and dev by Ombilicus Mundi. I’ve always been greatly inspired by Watson’s cinematic music, and the goal of this design was simple; showcase the music and get out of the way. We did just that, devising a docking content column that sits on top of full-screen videos, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the experience.

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Most days I wish my work could work. Simply work. To provide the means for me to survive, comfortably, in good spirits, and in the company of others. This is a difficult wish.

Some days, and most nights, I wish my work could heal. Could in some way repair the damage done to this world (perhaps by my other work). Could in some way repair me. Provide catharsis from the things that ail me, from the sickening loneliness, from the lack of beauty. This is harder still.

Tomorrow, I wish not to work. Tomorrow is May 1st, 2012. Helicopters drone in the sky tonight. Tomorrow, I will be in the street. With you, without work.

My long-standing collaboration with Memefest continues as I was asked by Oliver Vodeb to create the visuals for this year’s festival on the very timely theme of Debt. We decided to take a poetic, slightly ambiguous approach, with many subtle references, reflecting our complex relationship (and resistance) to debt.

The critical text that grounds the festival is excerpted from David Graeber’s excellent book Debt: The First 5000 Years. From the call for submissions:

DEBT IS EVERYWHERE.
It shapes our lives and defines our world.
Debt takes power from the people and places it in the hands of bankers and experts.
It wasn’t always this way.
Can we imagine a different relationship to debt?

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The last few months here in Quebec have been tumultuous ones, with a massive student movement taking to the streets on a near daily basis to oppose tuition increases, and in doing so, giving birth to a ” Printemps érable” that is drawing the links between broader social justice struggles and a firm rejection of the logic of austerity economics.

These are inspiring and challenging times, and as the unrest causes the social and political landscape to change, so too has the visual landscape of the city. Montreal is seeing red, the colour of the student movement, with giant banners hung from balconies, red squares popping up on all surfaces, telephone poles wrapped in red cozies, and countless other creative interventions visualising solidarity with the students.

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