I Am Blind Yet I See

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This piece is one of many of the serigraphy, or screen-printing, designs Corita Kent created advocating for equality and social justice. Corita Kent, also known as Sister Mary Corita, was a former nun, artist, and educator for the Immaculate Heart College. Corita’s work was inspired by Pop Art, medieval art, and abstract expressionism where she incorporated spirituality and humanitarian love in her work. Screen printing was Corita’s choice of medium given that her goal was to create art that was widely accessible as a means to communicate her messages of social justice across a large audience. After dispensation from her vows at the church in 1968, her work became increasingly political addressing topics of poverty, racism, and social injustice. 


This vibrant poster displays a quote from American author and disabilities rights activist Helen Keller who suffered an illness at 19 months that left her deaf and blind. The quote Corita used in her design is the title of Helen Keller’s article in The American Magazine published in 1929. Corita was known to combine mass media publications and humanitarian writings in many of her works including this piece where she included a poem dedicated to Helen Keller’s legacy. Similar works can be found in her “Heroes and Sheroes” series which included 29 prints of notable figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Robert F. Kennedy, and Cesar Chavez.