I'm taking a few courses about Children's Literature and I'm using it as an opportunity to better articulate ideas regarding Indigenous authors and illustrators. I haven't tried to create anything graphic-design related lately, so this was also a chance to put together a simple but visually appealing layout.
Using photos within my design work is really important to me because it's an opportunity to show diversity. I think, for myself, I just imagine how skeptical I would be if I was a young Indigenous kid and how I wouldn't trust recommended lists for literature or anything Native-related without some kind of visual representation that includes me. Because of this, I just want to think about ways we can all increase the amount of images of folks with darker skin within broader media, I think it's important for young Indigenous people to see themselves in promotional media but I also think it's good for all kids to this kind of diversity. These photos are from a handful of years ago and my cousin in the lowest photo is expecting her first baby later this month -- crazy how time flies.
On a side-note, I would like to get better about including disability based representation within media, mostly because I can admit that it's not something i always remember to include (cough cough, personal privilege). I would like to start to think about how I might include this in my art, my reading and studying, and my visual representation of diverse populations. Specifically, I want to start creating more illustrations that includes folks who have a physical form of disability.
If you happen to be an educator working in community, collections/libraries or with school institutions, please let me know your feedback regarding these kinds of materials. I'm really curious as to how this might align with curriculum development. I'm not a trained teacher at all, but I have worked in communications and am passionate about media and literature literacy.
Anyways, enjoy!
