Graphic Design 2023 Alum, Rick Heffner was on the team of this inspiring exhibition design—𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭: 𝘈 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦, by Mason Exhibitions. Now open at George Mason University’s Gillespie Gallery of Art through November 15, 2024. This exhibition closely examines the book, 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 (1964), a collaborative artwork in book form by two legendary American artists, James Baldwin, the African American writer, public intellectual, and civil rights activist, and Richard Avedon the Jewish fashion and portrait photographer.

As we celebrate the 100th year since James Baldwin’s birth, and mark 60 years since the first publication of 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, the book remains provocative. We continue to ask the same questions that Baldwin and Avedon were posing in 1964. We are still channel surfing or doom-scrolling; obsessing over appearances, while protests for systemic change continue. Global tensions and threats of nuclear war remain high. Wealth inequalities continue to escalate, and many people struggle to meet their basic needs, including mental health and housing. 𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 serves as a reminder of the power of art and literature to wield social change. As you engage with the exhibition, we encourage you to draw out the connections to current events, and consider how each of us can collaborate, like Baldwin and Avedon, in creating a vision for a more compassionate and just world. 📷 Mason Exhibitons/Steven Luu/Rick Heffner.

Check it out: www.masonexhibitions.org/exhibitions/nothing-personal