I've always wondered what it must feel like to live through history.
My parents were in college in the late '60s, and all my life I've been asking them to describe what it was like being on a campus during the Vietnam War protests, the civil rights moment and so much more.
(Sadly for me but luckily for America, they spent much of that time locked in NASA facilities at all hours, toiling away as co-op laborers on the Apollo program. So, not a lot of protest stories to share.)
These past few months have been the first time in my adult life when I've truly felt like I'm watching history unfold, a fact really driven home by a virtual exhibit debuting today called The Art of Protest.
As my Adweek colleague Tiffany Moustakas writes, the project was created by the visionary creative and curator Set Free Richardson, whose South Bronx gallery called Compound will be hosting the virtual photo gallery.
The Art of Protest takes the 2020 images we're so used to seeing as news and elevates them as iconic art capturing this culture-shaping moment in time. Specifically it honors the work of Black and Latino photographers who've been covering the protests.
Richardson says he was inspired to create the gallery, in partnership with agency dotdotdash, after noticing what a key role visuals have played in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Protest signs, murals, masks, clothing—all have been as central to the movement as the marches themselves.
I look forward to seeing the exhibit when it makes its virtual debut at 7 p.m. ET tonight. (You can watch for it on the Compound website.)
Wishing you a weekend of safety, optimism and reflection on how these times will be remembered,
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
Dive deeper with an Adweek Pro Subscription, your key to the inside scoop on the marketing and advertising trends and reporting that guide the world's top brands.
