Political Paperwork

(every so often, but rather rarely)
Left Right text in blue & red boots graphic

Left Right

This graphic was created during the 2012 election year, as a response to the disconnect between politicians/political parties and the citizens they were supposed to serve. Looping around in a continuum, the design depicts an apparently endless and aimless Left Right “March”. The graphic is stylistically/experimentally inspired by Saul Bass’s Hitchcock film posters.

POLITICAL ART

Print & T-shirt

FOR

2012 Election Year
Man wearing T-shirt with Left Right blue red boots marching, front side
Man wearing T-shirt with Left Right blue red boots marching, back side

Work/Credits

Design: Ioana Urma.
Caricature/illustration portraits of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu

Caricat-URA

Caricat-ura was an interactive political art project symbolically conceived for the December 2009 commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Romania. The name, “caricat-ura” is a play on words: “caricatura” means “caricature” in Romanian. Separately, “ura” means both “hooray” and “hate”. It’s a critique of the fact that after 20 years some people have forgotten the horrific damage this evil couple has caused, and have grown a romantic nostalgia for them.
The idea of the project was to hand over - in symbolic, life-size effigy form - former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, to “the people”, and let them decide what to do with them: memorialize or symbolically destroy them. Life-size, downloadable caricatures of the couple were made available via the Internet, in several formats which could easily be printed “at home”. He is depicted characteristically waving his right arm up and down, while she is shown typically holding her purse in front with both hands. Also provided were headshots, smaller drawings, and a few interpretative examples.

POLITICAL ART

Downloadable Illustrations

FOR

20th Anniversary of the Fall of Communism in Romania

MEDIA

“Ceaușescu Regretat și Ceaușescu Printat”, Ioan T. Morar, Academia Catavencu, 9/2010
Caricature of Elena Ceausescu thrown in the toilet
Caricature of Nicolae Ceausescu thrown in the toilet
Caricature of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu drawn with halftone pattern
Caricature of Elena Ceausescu with pencil poking through it
Full scale print caricature of Nicolae Ceausescu shot with food coloring
Full scale print caricature of Elena Ceausescu shot with food coloring
Burning caricatura portraits of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu
Burning caricatura portraits of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu
Burning caricatura portraits of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu
Burning caricatura portraits of Nicolae & Elena Ceausescu
Detail of full scale print caricature of Nicolae Ceausescu shot with food coloring
Detail of full scale print caricature of Elena Ceausescu shot with food coloring

Work/Credits

Design & Photos: Ioana Urma.
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across green stair wall at MIT
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across yellow stair wall at MIT
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across red stair wall at MIT
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across blue stair wall at MIT

Laundry Peace

This was a protest against the 1999 NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia: against using violence (particularly, the bombing of civilians) to establish peace, and, especially, against the biased and un-verified information published by the media unanimously supporting the war. Many front page declarations included only in small print the word “alleged” (for Serbian crimes which could be quelled by freely bombing). The overall deficiency in critical thinking and blinded support for the government by our (US, also UK) news agencies was horrifying, for that is the essence of a dictatorship. What is freedom without discussion and debate?
The quote posters, placed throughout MIT (where Ioana was in grad school/24 hours a day), in eye-catching large amounts were based on reports from other international news organizations (mostly Eastern Europe, Germany, France, and some US/UK) and from people at the war site. They were printed in blue to symbolize peace or peaceful things, like the blue sky. The posters went through several design iterations before finally being reduced to just the necessary: the quotes/other news. The quotes were purposely cut off to suggest both violence and a continuum of information.

Political Art

Guerilla Postering, MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA

SIZE

Letter size paper

For

1999 NATO Bombing of the Former Yugoslavia

MEDIA

“The Writing on the Wall”, by K.S., The Tech, MIT, 5/1999
(The article miscredits this guerilla project!)
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across concrete stair wall at MIT
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across typical white corridor wall at MIT
War protest sheet with quote from Solzhenitsyn by Noam Chomsky
War protest sheets with quote from MIT political science department
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across red stair wall at MIT
War protest sheets with quotes from news agencies pasted across blue stair wall at MIT
War protest sheet with quote from President Clinton
War protest sheets with quote from Jamie Shea, NATO
War protest sheet with quote from Robert Hayden, Dir. Russian & East European Center
War protest sheets with quote from Dutch foreign minister Van Aartsen
War protest sheet with list of casualties of Serbian free press bombed at TV station
War protest sheets with quote from Henry Kissinger
War protest sheet with quote from Rev. Jesse Jackson
War protest sheets with quote from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

Work/Credits

Concept/Design, Organization, & Photos: Ioana Urma. Quote collection & postering: Ioana Urma & three anonymous MIT students.