The Story:

'Racism as an ideology has been able to endure for centuries, as it has been reinforced throughout society at every level. Through our institutions, through education, through culture. It is a set of ideas that has been aggressively marketed, to remove our very humanity in order to control us, and justify the abuses against us. So undoing that racism must be both structural and ideological also. I see Black Outdoor Art as the marketing of antiracism. A poster cannot produce structural change in itself, but it can add to a climate. It can contribute to a version of society as we wish it to be.' – Greg Bunbury

Black Outdoor Art is a community art project and social initiative, that uses outdoor advertising as a platform for Black British creativity in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. The initiative is hosted by London media agency Brotherhood Media.

Black Outdoor Art commissions, produces and displays artwork created by the Black British creative community, from artists and designers, to illustrators, around themes of racism, equality, empowerment, and our lived experience here in the UK.

The goal of the initiative is to inspire discussion, activism and change. Though a simple poster campaign cannot produce the structural change necessary to dismantle racism, we believe that utilising marketing in this way can make for the fertile ground that may produce such change.

By presenting a range and breadth of voices and perspectives, we hope to keep the conversation around racism and equality going – because it’s a conversation that needs to happen now.

Our intent is for this campaign to impact the built environment around us, and how we engage with Design in a social context. To shape our own narratives, and build the kinds of connections that allow for empathy and understanding.