FB x PRIDE18: Ximena Jimenez on the Power of Unity and the Stonewall Uprising
This is the second in a series of interviews with six collaborators behind the PRIDE18 Poster, a Pride-themed series of screenprints commissioned by Facebook to celebrate Pride this year.
For Ximena Jimenez, embracing chance as a part of life has paid off. But hers isn’t your typical ‘just go for it without thinking’ kind of attitude. From finding her passion in lettering to finding a way to be part of this project, her embrace of the unexpected isn’t sweeping. Rather, it’s generally rooted in whether it serves what she’s passionate about.
When she received an out-of-the-blue invitation to design a poster from a onetime acquaintance (and fellow poster collaborator) Carlos, she had a lot going on. But chance came knocking and she showed us how she makes room for chance when it’s grounded in your passions. Of joining the project, she said:
Knowing that the project was for the PRIDE was enough to want to take it, this is something that touches every fiber of myself. Then creating a poster with such graphic freedom and teamed with such talented artists and designers part of the LGBTIQ community definitely sounded like a dream project.
Ximena is a freelance lettering designer. In 2014, after getting her graphic design degree from the University of Fine Arts in her hometown of Cali, Colombia, she moved to Buenos Aires to study electronic music production.
While she studied, she took a job as a waitress and chance did its thing. At the restaurant, she encountered menu boards.
In drawing the blackboards I found the world of lettering and I loved it deeply. I started to study and practice every day and after a few months I got my first client through Instagram. I say that life took me another way and I did well to let it flow.
My approach is quite broad, but I usually work mainly on logos, designs for clothing, murals and blackboards. I consider that my style is versatile since what I enjoy the most is to study and learn new ways to draw letters, so I can adapt to all kind of projects. If I do not have the knowledge I will love to learn it.”
What does PRIDE mean to you?
PRIDE for me, is to go from the closet to not only accepting yourself, but to feel proud of who and what you are. As a member of the LGBTQI+ community, I know we fight a hard battle during our life, mainly with ourselves. When you can finally feel proud, you have won. Now you are strong enough, nothing and no one is going to stop you.
How did you choose the subject for your piece? Why did you select that subject in particular?
I am very aware that the rights we have now and what we have built as a community have been achieved with great revolutions, not only individually but in unity. Stonewall uprising was the first time, in the history of the United States, when the LGBTQI community fought against a system that persecuted us, the first time that members of the community lived the strength to be united and did not lower their heads in the face of repressions and discrimination. This was a first step in the struggle for our rights that still continues and I feel that it deserves to be known by all and to take it as an example and a boost.
What would you like people to get from your poster?
I want each member to want to fight for their rights, to remember that it is difficult but in the end it’s worth it.
I also believe that discrimination in the our own community only harms us and that if we fight together we will go much further. Love wins.
How was your experience as a collaborator on this project?
It was very fun. As I said before I had a lot of graphic freedom and I feel that as a team we trust in the talent of each member and that made it more enjoyable.
Having the pleasure of receiving criticism from such talented people was really enriching and definitely a great learning experience. The In-House team was very organized and made me feel right at home.
Your poster was part of a series created by different artists. How, if at all, did working as part of a group shape your design?
As much as we worked on different pieces to create a single shape, I think the lines were not limiting at all and I could work quietly as in an individual piece.
Pride is one of the most significant cultural moments at Facebook. This year the team at Facebook Analog Research Lab commissioned a series of posters to celebrate Pride, each one by a different designer. The six individual prints each spell out a single letter or number “P”, “R”, “I”, “D”, “E” and “18”.
They partnered with our studio to produce the set. And we, in turn, had the immense pleasure of inviting designers into a collaboration process across borders and time zones. Over four conference calls, designers jointly decided on a conceptual approach and workshopped their posters from initial rough drafts through their final design.
This project was championed by Analog Lab creative directors Scott Boms and Leonardo De La Rocha, alongside PRIDE stakeholders at Facebook.
