In collaboration between Polymode and Letterform Archive, the exhibition Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest will be on view beginning July 23, 2022. Curated by Silas Munro of the design studio Polymode with Stephen Coles of Letterform Archive, the exhibition will feature more than 100 objects, including broadsides, buttons, signs, t-shirts, posters, and ephemera spanning the 1800s to today.

In sections exploring the many ways to voice dissent (VOTE!, RESIST!, LOVE!, TEACH!, and STRIKE!), the show will chart a typographic chant of resistance across more than a century of protest graphics.

Drawing from existing and newly acquired Letterform Archive collections, Munro and Coles initiated the project on the upswell of the Black Lives Matter protests with a goal to showcase typographic anger and agency as it is seen in the streets, on the printed page, and even on the bodies of demonstrators. The visual history of protest on display will range from nineteenth-century antislavery broadsides to the colorful affiches of the Paris 1968 uprising, from the revolutionary Black Panther newspaper to the public awareness posters of the AIDS crisis.

“We’re honored to bear witness to the generations of protest typography that speak to social issues and resonate with our current moment.”
— Silas Munro

Protestors have long used typography to strike through myriad forms of oppression. Their written words call communities to action, speak truth to power, and put bigots on notice that their hate has been marked for correction. The exhibition showcases typographic anger and agency as it is seen in the streets, on the printed page, and even on the bodies of demonstrators.

For more information, please visit the Letterform Archive website and the online exhibition page. Please make sure to also visit the Protest Poster website, which was built for you to build your own protest sign using VTC WE, a customtypeface designed by Tré Seals.