Comic sans for cancer
The exhibition
With an incredible charity and a 20th anniversary in mind, The Proud Archivist held an extraordinary event to raise funds and awareness for the Cancer Research but also to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the most thought provoking and controversial topics, the font comic sans.
In the exhibition, there was a display built and stringed around over 500 entries and 200 posters and art pieces, with the overall goal to raise money for the charity with all funds going directly to the cause. From 28 different countries, artists and designers, which later including the works of Hey Studio,
Build, Two Times Elliot, Multiadaptor, Spin and the creator of Comic Sans, Vincent Connare, were invited to submit posters, art and designs representing what comic sans meant to them, and with that in mind, floods of content came in, showing the history, emotional ties and most importantly the development and importance.
From the second you walk in, its a feast for the sensory, with the bold colours strung across the walls, each with its individual story and life but none lesser or greater than another. Walking through the gallery, you're greeted by constant thrill, and closely followed by activities, like learning to write in a comic sans style, cards to write in and take home to extend the experience.
One artist, Noni Braithwaite, talk about her experience designing for the exhibition and her take on it in her blog, saying 'I chose to communicate the love hate relationship we have with the typeface by comparing it to Marmite's slogan 'love it or hate it'.'.
The exhibit ran for four days, for the 20th - 24th of August 2014 at The Proud Archivist in London.
A fraction of the content presented at the gallery
Parts of the exhibition
From the audience's perspective
the exhibition
During and after this exhibit, art lovers across the county gathered to support the charity and celebrate this controversial yet monumental anniversary, with most being moved by the consideration, thought and effort made by the curators for the cause, and others seeing the humorous but clever approach to bringing in an audience and raising awareness and funds but overall inevitably turning into a controversial subject into a positive conversation.
