Selfcare as Warfare
Selfcare as Warfare is a design project taking inspiration from Sara Ahmed’s writing on Audre Lorde. They are both remarkable feminist writers and activists that I look up to. The essay is titled Selfcare as Warfare. It discusses the social impact of taking care of yourself while living in a society that does not advocate for your well-being. It also examines the role of privilege and the importance of intersectionality. Ahmed’s and Lorde’s words are so powerful that working on this project has been so meaningful to me.
The project consists of two outside covers and three inside spreads. I choose purple as the primary color as it symbolizes women’s suffrage, one of the most important feminist movements. Short shabby brushstrokes convey raw and strained emotions from the continuous fight. The front cover features a fire and a grenade. They are both motivation and determination, the oppressor’s weapons and the defender’s resistance. The back cover features Ahmed’s portrait with her chin tilting up unafraid.
I want to set an organic mood for the inside pages so that readers feel like they are looking into a journal. Highlight marks, stains, and smudges are the visual vocabulary to carry this message. On page 1, four hands forming a closed circle indicate self-preservation, emphasizing existence underneath a paragraph about erasure. Page 2 depicts “perfect” and “imperfect” circles representing privilege and its protection. Some circles are fuller and more even, while others lack that roundness and appear incomplete.
Spread 4 further discusses the impact of privilege. The smudging and distortion show the instability of a system built upon oppression. It catches some people from falling apart yet leaves others falling through the cracks.
Pages 9 and 10 again accentuate the importance of taking care of lives deemed unworthy of care. The affirmations are hand-scribbled to convey rawness. It sits on a sticky note, creating an interaction between the reader/writer and the message. The lone fire at the front cover now turns into a burning background. There are visible cracks between the stripes representing the fragility of this system. This page could also depict vines growing upwards despite lacking roots support.
I found strength and comfort in Ahmed’s and Lorde’s writings while working on this design. It is one of those projects that go beyond creating a piece for my portfolio. Therefore, I leave the pages as separate files instead of grouping them so that you can enjoy both the text and graphics in detail. I hope their words make you feel seen and heard as much as I did.
