ARI was created by and for graphic artists from oppressed and visionary communities. As of October 2024 we have 275+ members. Our membership includes all experience levels: from internationally acclaimed elders to emerging artists making their first posters. Anyone who creates any kind of visual art with liberation movements, agrees to the Community Agreements, and lives on land claimed by the US, is welcome here.

ARI includes but is not limited to: illustrators, cultural organizers, muralists, curators, quilters, collage artists, graphic recorders, cartoonists, graffiti artists, animators, digital artists, graphic designers, art directors, photographers, photographers, cultural workers, culture bearers, sculptors, etc.

This is a network by and for artists from marginalized communities to celebrate, center, and support our work. This includes but is not limited to: artists who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrant, undocumented, intersex, trans, nonbinary, queer, poor, low-income, fat, disabled, chronically ill/sick, Deaf, mad, and neurodivergent. We also prioritize community-taught movement artists without formal training or degrees.

We know art is crucial to survival and liberation, and we live and create best in community. Many of us struggle with isolation, and many of us are community-taught artists. We want to share our skills and bring more artists into the movement. As we face genocides, climate chaos, and ongoing attacks on our communities, there will be more urgent demands of artists and more opportunities for creative resistance. We want to meet these challenges together – scheming, growing our collective power, and making the “impossible” look irresistible.

Right now we connect online through a Google Group, a Signal group, an “ARI for Palestine” Instagram group chat, and self-organized local meet-ups in person. Someday we hope to do larger in-person gatherings.

ARI is an emergent galaxy being created by all of us! It’s a place to self-organize, bring your ideas and find your comrades. The collective planning crew of Rob Liu-Trujillo, Tesh Silver, Loisse Ledres and Micah Bazant helps coordinate our orbits. Former beloved members of the planning crew include Monica Trinidad, Grae Rosa, and shreya delgado-shah. We are supported by the organization Forward Together.

Members commit to introducing themselves in the Google Group and being active in the network at least once in the next year. This can mean sharing a project, resource or question or responding to a thread on email, signal or Instagram. We love members who have the energy to actively participate, self-organize, and shape ARI together, and we know many of us are over-committed and you are welcome to join and plug in when you can.