Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai is not a graphic designer in really any of the traditional senses of the term. Yet she has dramatically changed the graphics of the landscape of Africa. She, according to nobelprize.org, in cooperation with groups of women across Africa, has planted over 20 million trees. For me this is an incredible form of art for a number of reasons.

First of all, it's a communal project not possible to complete with only the hands of a single artist. In actively involving women other women in the project, Maathai gave those women the tools to empower themselves to literally change the landscape of their communities for the better. Though the project addressed several social issues including women's empowerment and environmental degradation, it didn't attempt to simply tell the stories of people affected by the injustice of these problems, it invited them to participate in physically changing their stories.

Second, the fact that the art is made up of trees is powerful because that means that it will continually grow and evolve and change as the years go by. And those trees will give back to the the communities and the land that they are planted in.

Thirdly, another factor that I think makes this act of art is that it's available to anyone who is in the area. The trees are there and they make a statement that anyone can view and interpret and appreciate.

By Kate Pritchard