Making of: Artistic Activism Youtube Series

By Al Preston

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            In these trying and painful times, I hope our new YouTube series, Artistic Activism, has given some folks some hope.

            Activist forebearers have fought against some impressive odds to get us to where we are today. They fought, they had their losses, they had their wins, they survived. So too, shall we.

            However, it’s always nice to hear stories of hope and triumph during hard times which is why we started Artistic Activism. Between myself and Rei, we needed to hear some good stories ourselves. Rei, the person doing the drawing, is also the artistic genius behind our logo and the first person I ask if I need help designing anything. This was even their idea.

            The process of making these videos is actually really easy. We start by recording our conversations around my telling of the activist story. Rei gets their ideas for the drawing while we talk. Once I’ve told the entire story, provided all of the context needed, Rei starts making the actual drawing while their screen is recorded.

            Once the drawing is done, I edit it all down, speed up the drawing portion, lay on the audio and tada!

            It’s rather cathartic to go through these peoples lives and talk about where they were able to succeed. Gives us some hope about our own future. We both hope that they can help anyone who watches.

            We started with Kipp Dawson, a Pittsburgh local activist who was at the front of just about every protest in the city. She was a coal miner and fought for unions. There is a wonderful website about her, her archives, and her work. I highly recommend checking it out!