Case Study - Google Portraits
I teamed up with Google and 72andSunny to create 10 artistic portraits the 25th Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act that honoured various leaders and activists in the fight for equality for people with disabilities.
The choice of staircases is a nod to a 1990 protest called the Capitol Crawl, when activists with disabilities pulled themselves up the steps of the Capitol Building to urge the passing of the legislation into law. An act that led to Americans with Disabilities Act. To help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ADA, the murals were featured at historical sites throughout Washington, D.C. at the National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American History, Woodrow Wilson Plaza, Gallaudet University and the Carnegie Library.
Along with the portraits, I designed an alphabet that was used to create the various quotes. This helped reinforce the hand-crafted and human element of the project, as well as establishing the cohesive look the client desired.
Poster versions were also featured in Los Angeles to coincide with the Special Olympics.
Process
It all begins with sketches of the portraits before transferring the images to treated printmaking paper. Then the layering of paint and collage begins until finished pieces slowly emerge and become fully formed.
