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Architecture & Design

Architecture has a long life span. What we build and create says multitudes about what we value. See the stories that are shaping the landscape of Los Angeles and beyond.

A young girl stands in the foreground with a backdrop of flying birds and a halo of concentric circles.
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A colorful mural showing purple octopus, kelp, pelicans and fish.
The visual language that has emerged from the Golden State continues to rewrite the rules of design through the unrestrained use of color, stylistic hybridity and the juxtaposition of high and low culture.
A graphic design poster of Malcolm X made by Emory Douglas.
The flowering of grassroots social movements in California in the 1960s and '70s led to concurrent flourishing of graphic innovation as a form of collective action. Designers today continue this legacy, using their practices to inspire change and raise up global fights for justice.
A poster for Women in Design Conference at the Woman's Building designed by Sheila de Bretteville.
Issues of accessibility have long been woven through all facets of graphic design and can especially be seen in Los Angeles during the late 1960s and early '70s.
A print of the April 1975 issue of Gidra with Asian American students on the cover.
What started as a monthly paper in 1969 geared towards Asian American students at UCLA soon expanded to the greater Los Angeles community.
Endless Summer: How a Poster Shaped Surf Culture
7:20
John Van Hamersveld takes us through the design and effect of his "Endless Summer" poster.
Emory Douglas: The Black Panther Artist
16:54
This episode follows Emory Douglas and the visual imagery of protest in the country.
Educators at Immaculate Heart College (image courtesy the Corita Art Center, Immaculate Heart Community).jpg
From the socially progressive prints of Sister Corita to the first major gay publication in the U.S., Los Angeles has a rich history of diverse visual expressions that are an intersection of graphic design and social activism.
Christopher Myers' "The Art of Taming Horses" is installed at Tahquitz Canyon Way in Palm Springs for Desert X 2021.
Christopher Myers' "The Art of Taming Horses" sculptures subvert the accepted narrative of monuments to tell the story of two fictional ranchers of color.
Nicholas Galanin's "Never Forget" installation consists of the words "Indian" and "Land" writ large like the Hollywood sign.
With its enormous letters in the Hollywood sign typeface, "INDIAN LAND" references the roots of this country's colonial genocide and racism and reveal the rawness of a wound that has yet to heal.
Kim Stringfellow's Jackrabbit Homestead created for Desert X 2021 is a 122-square-foot cabin
Kim Stringfellow's Desert X installation is an endemic artwork disguised as a micro home that speaks to a slower, more sustainable lifestyle in the modern world.
A triangular maze made out of Mexican petate created by Eduardo Sarabia is part of the Desert X 2021 exhibition.
Eduardo Sarabia's "The Passenger" speaks to the journey of the modern immigrant to the U.S. as one of fragility and resilience.
Zahrah Alghamdi's installation "What Lies Behind the Walls" for Desert X 2021 stands in Desert Hot Springs.
Saudi Arabian artist Zarah Alghamdi’s Desert X 2021 installation begs the question of what lies beyond walls, both material and immaterial.
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