The United Kingdom’s “guerilla of graphic design,” whose artwork is so controversial it was banned from exhibition in his home country of Zimbabwe, spoke to students in an event Tuesday night about using design to inspire social change.
Graphic design artist Chaz Maviyane-Davies spoke to students at the university yesterday evening as part of the Department of Art’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series. The lecture was held in the Art/Sociology Building, where about 75 students gathered to listened to advice from the artist who got his aforementioned nickname from the UK’s Design magazine.
Maviyane-Davies said he uses his artwork as an outlet against a world that he views as “intolerant” and “not willing to accept differences.”
Throughout the lecture, Maviyane-Davies explained to students how he uses his work to communicate issues of social responsibility, health, consumerism, the environment and human rights through his creativity in his artwork. He also said that if designs could be used to sell jeans and perfume, they could also be used to sell ideas of democracy and social change.
Using design as his weapon, Maviyane-Davies has created an extensive body of work surrounding the exploitation of his homeland.
“The people, though, are the real soul of the nation — hardworking, loving, joyful. … The government is exploiting them,” Maviyane-Davies said. “Corruption is everywhere [and] injustice continues to rule with an iron fist.”
He displayed numerous “graphic activism” posters against voter intimidation from the regime of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe. Maviyane-Davies said he left his country after Mugabe was elected president and outlawed Maviyane-Davies’ designs.
“I want to get people to eventually see and experience what I do now,” he said. “Sometimes we need to see things through the eyes of nature.”
Students at the lecture enjoyed hearing about Maviyane-Davies story and seeing how his struggles were conveyed in his designs.
“His body of work leaves a strong impression,” said Andrew Campbell, a sophomore architecture major. “He had a very striking way of addressing his subject matter.”
Maviyane-Davies has a master’s degree in Graphic Design from the Central School of Art and Design, London, and an Advanced Diploma in Postgraduate Film-making from the Central St. Martins School of Art and Design, London.
He is currently an associate professor of design at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.
ga at umdbk dot com
