Staff Blog
Anti-Casino Artists Wanted: Make like this cover, win prizes and get the word out
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One of Philly's most prolific photographers, JJ Tiziou, has made a name for himself around these parts as "How Philly Moves" creator, Fringe/Live Arts contributor — and resident promotional shooter for pretty much every performing-arts company in the city.
His latest endeavor is one we can really get behind (and that's not just because he's using our Jan. 8 cover as a catalyst).
The project, pared down: He wants us to create anti-casino art.
Much like our own Evan M. Lopez's depiction of the casino-as-seducer, JJ wants the creative community to come together and create art that conveys our city's collective fear/distrust/disgust for the impending rise of casino culture.
(The goal, ultimately, is that one image would rise to the top — Shepard Fairey-style — as something Philadelphians go back to throughout the fight.)
JJ's been working with — and creating designs for — Casino-Free Philadelphia lately, and he hopes that the more people who voice their opinion through striking imagery, the better.
From an e-mail he sent out to the creative community:
We need a lot more art like Evan's drawings. I want you to make some. And get all of your colleagues to do the same. Artists have an ability to convey important information in ways that are accessible to everyone. We have different audiences than the usual activist crowd. We have tremendous potential to help catalyze social change. In a city that is trying to close libraries and open casinos, your skills are sorely needed!
As the tide shifts against the casino industry, it's also a great opportunity for artists to get their work out there as well.
As to the artwork: It could be anything you'd like. A screen print, a drawing, an informational video or a comedy sketch. If you find thematic guidance helpful, the theme for CFP's new campaign is "Declaring our Independence from Casinos" — and there are plenty of opportunities to go back to historic/revolutionary imagery — but there's also a lot of other ways to go artwork-wise, and the more the better. Please just take the time to learn a bit about the issues and create a response. Then share it with us, and also with your audiences.
He's sweetened the deal with prizes for Best T-Shirt Design, Best Poster Design and Best Video, but points out that "the sweetest prize of all will be a city that continues to be casino-free." Right you are, JJ.
Visit againstcasinos.wordpress.com for more information or to enter.
[...] end of 2008 brought some great exposure…  I was glad to be mentioned in the CityPaper Staff Blog but the big honor was having my image featured on the cover of the year end issue of the ASMP [...]