Art for Democracy is a multi-pronged initiative established by Bay Area artist Lena Wolff to promote a more inclusive, equitable society through a series of fundraisers for grassroots voting organizations, along with a widespread public art campaign to encourage voter participation across the United States.

A new round of text-based images by Lena and Hope Meng are in the works to circulate across the country in the form of billboards, physical posters, postcards and free downloadable files for the election year of 2024. This year, to carry the project out, we’ve formed a partnership with the non-profit organization and fiscal sponsor, SaveArtSpace, which makes it possible to receive tax-deductible donations to the project.

We raised over $65,000 via GoFundMe and direct donations, allowing us to install 23 billboards in 16 cities in swing states across America.

As artists and organizers, we believe that a truly representative democracy rooted in equality is key to a thriving and joyful society. We are concerned about the rising appeal of right-wing autocratic-leaning leaders in the US who are actively working to dismantle the civil rights gains of recent decades, from reproductive freedom to LGTBQ rights, immigrants rights to racial justice, along with the movements for a sustainable planet that we depend on to live. This project aims to address these concerns through art and civic participation.

Please feel free to contact yourvotecampaign.com if you’d like to get involved!

Organizers

Lena Wolff is an interdisciplinary visual artist, craftswoman and activist for democracy. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1990’s, Wolff’s visual art practice extends out of folk art traditions, while at the same time being connected to minimalism, geometric abstraction, Op art, social practice, and feminist art. Her broad but interconnected artistic output includes drawing, collage, sculpture, text-based pieces, embroidery, and public projects.

Since the 2016 presidential election, Wolff has generated several new projects that contribute to public dialog and civic engagement. In addition her widespread poster series, in 2020 she raised over $200,000 for BIPOC-led grassroots voting organizations with the project Dine for Democracy. Her work has been presented in galleries and museums across the United States and has been collected by The Alameda County Arts Commission, The Berkeley Art Museum, The Cleveland Clinic, One National Lesbian and Gay Archives, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, The San Francisco Arts Commission, The University of Iowa Museum and The Zuckerman Museum of Art, among others. She lives with her wife, artist, teacher and illustrator, Miriam Klein Stahl and their daughter in Berkeley, California.

In 2019, November 12th was named Miriam Klein Stahl and Lena Wolff Day in the City of Berkeley by Mayor Jesse Arreguin for their work that merges art and civic engagement.

Connect with Lena on Instagram at @lenawolffstudio.

Hope Meng is a designer who believes in the power of letters to communicate through both their content and their form. She is the designer behind Monogram Project, and the artist behind TEXT/TILE Studio. Hope lives and works in San Francisco, California.

Connect with Hope on Instagram at @hopemengdesign.

SaveArtSpace

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.