We Tried to Warn You!

50 Years of Environmental Poster Design

Published by Earth Aware Editions
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About The Book

For design enthusiasts and environmentalists, We Tried to Warn You! chronicles the use of the poster as a tool for environmental warning, protest, and hope from the first Earth Day to present time. Showcasing this work, the book investigates how visual culture has shaped and reflected our collective response to our planet in crisis.

The poster provides a unique snapshot of popular sentiment—and graphic design—at different points in time. We Tried to Warn You! provides a one-of-a-kind visual timeline of environmental issues as the public began to understand and face them. Spanning decades of ecological messaging, the book brings together striking works from across the world, from deforestation protests from the 1970s to twenty-first-century climate justice graphics shared across social media.

Inspired by the popular Poster House exhibition of the same name, the book highlights both iconic and lesser-known environmental posters paired with information on the history, politics, science, and people that have influenced the field over the decades. With essays by leading environmentalist Bill McKibben, scholar Carolyn Finney, and curator John Kenneth Paranada, the book is sure to engage poster enthusiasts, students of environmental activism, fans of the graphic history of public service announcements, and casual readers who just want to understand how we arrived at the present state of environmental history.

About The Authors

Tim Medland is an independent curator who focuses on the history of visual and material culture. He holds an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester, with a concentration in socially engaged practice. His research interests include environmental activism and sustainability, and the histories of transport, propaganda, colonialism, and migration.

Angelina Lippert is the Executive Director and Curator of Poster House in New York City, the first museum in the United States dedicated to the art and history of the poster. She holds an MA in the art of the Russian Avant-Garde from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and a BA in theology and art history from Smith College. She is the author of The Art Deco Poster and co-author of Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters, and has lectured at SVA, The Cooper Union, NYU, Pratt, The New York Times, the American Center Moscow, Columbia University, and The Sotheby's Institute of Art. She was a recipient of the Emily Hall Tremaine Journalism Fellowship for Curator through Hyperallergic, and has written for The Muse by the Clio Awards as well as the New York Journal of Books.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Earth Aware Editions (February 16, 2027)
  • Length: 240 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798887622149

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