Erin Sedra, MFA in Visual Studies student at Missouri State University, recently won the top award in the Social Activism category of the United States International Poster Biennial Exhibition for her poster “Ruthless.”

Sedra accepted her award at a ceremony in Ames, Iowa.

The exhibition will travel to venues in China, Poland, California, New York, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa and additional locations yet to be announced.

“Ruthless” honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg while embracing social activism

“The piece is titled ‘Ruthless’ and is an abstraction of RBG’s famous lace collar made from wire hangers,” Sedra said.

“When creating this piece, I was reflecting on my own grief I felt the night Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and the fear for the future of women’s rights that accompanied the emotions of that evening,” Sedra added.

The poster was inspired by the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that made access to abortion a federal right.

“I wanted to reinvigorate the symbol of the coat hanger but stop the cliché and send a message that is a little ambiguous but not impossible to decipher,” Sedra explained.

The reference to the coat hanger relates to a previously used non-medically safe abortion. [Read more…] about MFA student wins top award in international poster design competition