Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture

 

In the months following 9/11, the government of the United States began unjust and immoral occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq leading to the deaths of countless civilians.  It continued the warrantless wiretapping which had started in February 2001and then suspended habeas corpus.  And, it began openly torturing people and justifying it with questionable legalese.

In the hyper-sensitive environment that surrounded 9/11 and the military action that followed it, we lost sight of the most important commodity to which we can lay claim:

the Truth.

 

And the Truth is: torture is a crime.

In this media-saturated world, writers, artists and designers have a unique responsibility to speak the truth. They also have a long tradition of speaking their minds when others are afraid. When we can't trust mainstream journalism, academia or even our president to do the right thing, artists and writers may be the only ones truly capable of expressing the truth.

With this in mind, as part of our mission to bring the Bush-era war crimes to justice, War Criminals Watch is producing a volume of evocative and inspiring artwork and writings entitled Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture. The focus is on the torture that began under the Bush administration after 9/11. We're calling on artists and writers of all stripes to submit pieces that are positive, uplifting, thoughtful and thought-inspiring, depressing, shocking, heartfelt and meaningful. The more diverse the better.  If selected by our jury, your piece will be featured in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture.

Submission Deadline

The deadline for submissions of artwork or written work is December 31, 2009. If your piece/s is/are accepted for inclusion in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture, you will be notified by email by the end of January 2010.

 

Requirements for Artwork

Any size, medium and content is acceptable but the work must deal directly or indirectly with the subject of torture. There is no limit on the number of pieces submitted by an individual, though we would ask that the number of submissions per person is kept to a reasonable number. Please note that, though we respect artistic license, by submitting your piece to us you give us the right to modify your piece to fit our layout and direction. If your work is selected, and you agree to have it placed in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture, you will be required to sign a release form granting us permission to publish the piece(s) however our staff sees fit.

There two categories of images we require for inclusion in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture: submission quality images, which can be relatively low quality and are only for consideration of the work; print-quality images, which must be of a certain resolution to be printed in the final book. The guidelines for each appear below.

 

Submission File Guidelines:

We request that all 2-dimensional artwork sent to us for consideration is in a digital, transmittable format. For any 3-d work (e.g. sculpture, installation, etc), still photographs of the work and a brief description in the submission message will suffice. All submission images for consideration must meet the following guidelines:

Juried File Fomat: JPEG or PNG

Juried File Resolution: 72 to 300 DPI

Jury File Dimensions: please fit within a 800x600 canvas

 

Print-quality File Guidelines:

If your piece is selected we request that all artwork sent to us for inclusion in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture is in a digital, transmittable format and meets the following guidelines:

Print-quality file formats (vector images): .ai, .eps, .pdf

Print-quality file formats (raster images): .bmp, .tiff, .jpg, .png

Print-quality file resolution (raster images): no less that 300 DPI

Print-quality file dimensions:  any

 

Requirements for Written Work

For writings, we are asking for short essays, poetry, personal accounts or the occasional (brief) manifesto. There is no limit on the number of pieces submitted by an individual, though we would ask that the number of submissions per person is kept to a reasonable number. Please note that though we will respect every word you write, by submitting your piece to us, you give us the right to edit your piece to better fit our layout and direction. If your work is selected, and you agree to have it placed in Redact This! - Artists and Writers Against Torture, you will be required to sign a release form granting us permission to publish the piece(s) however our staff sees fit.

For written pieces, we will accept the digital file formats that are listed below:

• PDFs preferred
• Microsoft Word .doc, .docx
• text files (.txt) also accepted.

Though we'll accept writings in all languages (with special preference given to the languages of those most effected by torture, Arabic and Farsi), we ask that an English translation is provided with your piece.