"The Social Justice Poster Project at Fresno State was conceived as an opportunity to engage students in collaborative art-making centered around social justice issues and civic discourse – to give students a platform to make art about the issues they care about while learning about the histories and relationships between social activism and art." - Benjamin Kirk
2020 Social Justice Poster Project - "Why?"
I've always believed that everyone deserves the right to live. No, not just to live. To live without fear. When I learned about what was happening at the Mexican border and how many children were being separated from their families, I was incredibly saddened. Men and women and little boys and girls with who I share my heritage with being separated. Inspired by this, I created "Why?". A trapped child made out to be a danger to others.
2022 Social Justice Poster Project - "no quiero ser violada"
After experiencing a difficult situation caused by a man who I thought was my friend, I wanted to look into more issues concerning women in the world. Considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman, Honduras has the highest femicide rate in the Latin American region, with 6.2 cases per 10,000 inhabitants. In 2020, 278 women were murdered in the country and, as of November 2021, more than 240 women have lost their lives violently. More information about this topic can be found when the QR code is scanned. "No Quiero Ser Violada" is a poster that portrays these women as faceless because it's important to understand that terrible things can happen to women at any age and that's horrifying. It's equally terrifying to realize that this is what their murderers must have viewed them as. Not someone's mother, grandmother, cousin, aunt, daughter, or sister. Just a victim.