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Art for Change

Posted on by Marnie Galloway

Like so many of my friends, family and colleagues, the election of Donald Trump as president last week has felt like a personal trauma. The sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia and generally violent rhetoric of his campaign and proposed policies are personally abhorrent and explicitly oppressive to our fellow citizens, to refugees, to undocumented families, to the most vulnerable of us. America is a country founded on these inequalities, whose systems of power structurally reinforce these inequalities. I guess I hoped another equally American narrative was one of working towards social justice, toward liberation of the oppressed; I hoped that was one that more of us shared. 

As an artist and freelance illustrator, I don't have the means to be financially generous to organizations I support and believe in. As an artist and freelance illustrator who is also the mother of an 8-month-old without the means for childcare, I do not have the logistical flexibility to be an extra body in demonstrations and protests. 

What I do have is pen and paper.

Every month of Trump's presidency, I will put up a new piece of original art on my store to raise money for a different Chicago-local organization that supports communities who are directly negatively affected by Trump's proposed policies. It's a drop of water against a tidal wave of violence, but it is a drop I can offer. Art will be priced to be accessible, but (hopefully) still a meaningful charitable donation. Artist friends, please be in touch and let me know if you would like to join me in supporting these organizations on this schedule, or if I can promote any similar projects you want to undertake.

I put all 7 ink/gouache paintings from "Nest" up for sale on my store to raise money for Planned Parenthood of Illinois. 

Below is the schedule of organizations I will raise money to support in 2017.

Let's do this.

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