No freedom, No rights

In 2009, Poster4tomorrow organized the first non-competitive competition titled “The pencil is mightier than the sword,” aimed at raising awareness on a very specific issue: creating posters to draw attention and take action against the repression of freedom of expression.

As the brief stated: “Freedom of expression is a right that the Western world takes for granted. But in many countries, such as Iran, innocent people are persecuted and imprisoned every day for their demands for democracy and freedom of the press or for denouncing human rights abuses.”

(for more information, you can visit the posterfortomorrow website)

The creation of the poster “No freedom, No rights” was almost instantaneous. The limitation of freedom of expression immediately made me think of the condition of women. The burqa, a form of women’s humiliation and depicted on the left side of the poster, is shown “in reverse” on the right side, where the woman’s face is revealed, but her mouth is covered. This design conveys the message that no matter how one may perceive it, the freedom of expression is still denied.

The poster was selected as one of the 100 winning posters that were exhibited in 24 cities worldwide starting from December 10, 2009, and it is still featured on the Poster4tomorrow website.

In Italy, the poster was exhibited at the Triennale di Milano.