Growing up in Seale, Alabama as a Black Queer kid, then attending the Rhode Island School of Design as an undergraduate, Jon Key hungered to see himself in the fields of Art and Design. But in lectures, critiques, and in the books he read, he struggled to see and learn about people who intersected with his identity or who GOT him. So he started asking himself questions:
What did it mean to be a graphic designer with his point of view? What did it mean to be a Black graphic designer? A Queer graphic designer? Someone from the South? Could his identity be communicated through a poster or a book? How could identity be archived in a design canon that has consistently erased contributions by designers who were not white, straight, and male?
In Black, Queer, & Untold, acclaimed designer and artist Jon Key answers these questions and manifests the book he and so many others wish they had when they were coming up. He pays tribute to the incredible designers, artists, and people who came before and provides them an enduring, reverential stage – and in so doing, gifts us a book that takes its place among the creative arts canon.
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Uncover oft-forgotten figures in Black and Queer art history in this treasure trove of nearly 400 full-color images from the 19th century to the present
"This wildly impressive feat of research outlines a Black, queer history of art and design, dating all the way back to the 19th century. The book also represents author and graphic designer Jon Key's effort to situate himself in the history of American visual culture, from which Black queer contributions have too often been erased." - them.
In Black, Queer, & Untold, acclaimed designer and artist Jon Key pays tribute to the incredible designers, artists, and people who were erased from a design canon that consistently failed artists who were not white, straight, and male. From abolitionist newspapers to the little magazines of the Harlem Renaissance to the zines that fueled AIDS activism, Key takes an expansive approach to design history from the 19th century to the present. Arranged chronologically in six sections, Key leaves no stone unturned and carefully surveys oral histories, personal narratives, album covers, newspaper clippings, academic essays, archival letters, posters and other design objects. Guided by his firm narrative hand, he provides these unsung heroes with an enduring, reverential stage - and in so doing, gifts us a book that takes its place among the creative arts canon.
P R A I S E
Winner: PubWest Diverse Voices Design Award
A CultureType Best Black Art Book of 2024
¿ "Artist, designer, and writer Key provides a glimpse of the people and objects whose contributions to the graphic arts intersect their queerness and Blackness... A thoughtful culmination of research, written with emotional intensity. A necessary purchase."
- Library Journal (starred)
