“A series of tiny protest signs to be carried through the mail system.”
BY EVAN CAIN
VICE-PRESIDENT/ CO-EDITOR IN CHIEF/ ARTS AND CULTURE HEAD
Pictured: Lea Redmond at Leafcutter Designs created a series of free “Say Their Names” stamps (all sources linked to images).
Leafcutter Designs by Lea Redmond
Leafcutter Designs is a small stationery and postal shop located in Downtown Oakland, California that has been creating tiny mail, art, and postal accessories since 2008. The founder, Lea Redmond, “is always looking for the poem hiding inside things” and draws inspiration from everyday life to create unique experiences, write books, and craft objects to help change the world one subtle experience at a time.
Pictured: Lea Redmond, the founder of Leafcutter designs and the World’s Smallest Postal Service.
Lea studied Continental Philosophy, Art, and Environmental Studies at Whitman College and Social Practice briefly at the California College of the Arts. While she is well-known for her visual art, writing, and postal service, she also is available for lectures, collaborative projects, teaching, and creative consultations, a few other areas of interest she has much experience in. Leafcutter Designs and Lea’s other main service, the World’s Smallest Post Service, send thousands of tiny letters and goodies to countries all over the world and offers tons of “curious objects” from Lea and her creative colleagues. The company’s other goods include:
Pictured: Lea’s tiny mail, curious & books, tabletop shows and studio goods.
Issue 1: “Say Their Names” Stamps
Lea specializes in creating tiny postage and stationery sets of different themes and with the recent and inhumane deaths of multiple members of the Black community by unjust police brutality, she has adopted something new. The “Say Their Names” stamps are “a series of tiny protest signs to be carried through the mail system” designed by Oree Originol, who creates open-source art surrounding marginalized people who have been killed by police enforcement. He works from Los Angeles, CA and his art is primarily fueled by the Black Lives Matter Movement. Oree’s work has been “reproduced and disseminated worldwide in public demonstrations, classrooms, art galleries, as street art, and online.” Check out his website for more!
It is vital to keep the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement on track despite the noticeable social media burnout and lack of press coverage. Lea says, “I dream about (and am trying to help co-create) a more peaceful, just world in which all people and the planet itself are respected and treated with love and care.” She created these free lick-and-stick stamps as “an act of solidarity or to raise consciousness and inspire action” regarding the Black Lives Matter movement and she urges these stamps to be attached to any piece of outgoing mail, to show continuous support for the movement. The “Say Their Names” stamps include images of 80+ marginalized peoples killed by law enforcement and are meant to be placed on a letter or package in the postage stamp area if accompanied by real postage (proper stamps).
Pictured: The first edition of the Protest Stamps, including images of members of the Black community killed by police brutality.
Get a Free Sheet!
Lea and Oree created this zero profit project to help promote the need for justice through the postal system and offer these stamps for people all over the world to show their support for the movement. Remember that these are faux stamps, so you will have to include enough real postage to send your mail! Check out these simple instructions to get a free sheet of these artistic and vital postage symbols:
How to request free “Say Their Name” Stamps:
Address an envelope to yourself. Add a stamp. ($1 optional donation).
Send your S.A.S.E. (Self-addressed stamped envelope) to Lea in Oakland. Write “Say Their Names” so Lea knows which edition to send you.
Lea will send your envelope back to you with stamps for you to use!
Create Your Own!
Lea also urges the community to create and submit their own designs for a future edition of crowd-sourced stamps. This way, artists will be able to create and reflect their own experiences or thoughts on the unfair racism engraved in America and create more meaningful messages to be sent through the postage system.
Postage Stamp Protest - Design Template (transcribed)
Instructions: design a tiny protest sign (in the form of a postage stamp). To submit for possible inclusion in a future batch of Postage Stamp Protest stickers, email a high-res scan to lea@pennyparlor.com, or send to Lea in the mail. (Do not fold your art!)
Techniques:
Print this file and draw into the rectangle with any medium you like: crayons, markers, paint, etc.
Use your own paper or other medium and create a design that is 3” x 4.47”
Design digitally
Design ideas:
Choose a theme or issue
Create a portrait
Draw a symbol or other image
Design a text-based stamp with bold, large lettering
Combine the above elements
Design this tiny protest poster to be something that you would feed good and appropriate holding in the streets or hanging in your window. It should reflect who you are and what you care about.
Please do…
Fill the entire box with content
Keep in mind that your art will be shrunk to postage-stamp size! I recommend bold lines, shapes, and colours. Fine detail will not translate well to the postage stamp format and size. To test your illustration, look at it from a few feet away. Does it still look good?
*Lea also includes a few optional colour palettes for inspiration/ use.
Please note: submitting your art is also giving your permission to print and distribute it for free. Postage Stamp Protest is a non-profit project. Thank you for the gift of your design, and watch your mailbox for some free stamps! Please email Lea your mailing address with your submission.
Issue 2: “Get Out The Vote”
The “Say Their Names” stamps are the first of many editions of the Postage Stamp Protest project and the “Get Out The Vote” stamps are soon to come as well new batches inspired by the community’s art submissions. To read more about this project, visit Lea’s Leafcutter website and sign up for her artistic and informative newsletter.
Please take time to request a free sheet of protest stamps from Lea. Showing solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement can be as simple as picking which stamps to put on your mail and altering your everyday lifestyle to continue to advocate. The Postage Stamp Protest is a simple way of demanding justice and speaking out through carrying the message of Black Lives Matter through the mail. We need to speak out. We need to support. We need to demand justice. We need to do better.
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