Rise Up. Show Up. Unite! Project

Three weeks ago Jessica Hische, Adé Hogue and 20 other artists united to help Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win the US 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. Jump forward to today and there is an ever-growing group of artists turning their quiet support into activism by getting behind this project and the Biden/Harris campaign!

Artworks from the Rise up. Show up. Unite! website and can be found on Instagram using the #riseupshowupunite hashtag.

About the Project

This project idea sparked after Jessica Hische had a conversation with the Biden creative team—sharing her concerns about the lack of visible support for the campaign. Whilst many in the creative world are sharing the importance of voting in the election, few mentioned the candidates by name. Jessica felt that this "somewhat implied that if you’re promoting voting or voting rights that you’re likely voting Biden and encouraging a Biden vote, but it’s not explicit. There’s an “I guess I’ll vote for him if I have to” vibe throughout leftist social media, but exasperated resignation doesn’t get people to the polls."

Artworks from the Rise up. Show up. Unite! website and can be found on Instagram using the #riseupshowupunite hashtag.

Prior to this conversation, Jessica was in communication with Scott Thomas (the lead designer for Obama’s original campaign in 2008), about his a get-out-the-vote project. That conversation led Jessica to the phrase “Rise Up. Show Up. Unite!”

Empowered by the idea Jessica contacted Adé Hogue to join her in lettering the phrase. Through their process back and forth the project turned from a one-off personal artwork into a full campaign, inviting other artists from the lettering and design community to participate.

Artworks from the Rise up. Show up. Unite! website and can be found on Instagram using the #riseupshowupunite hashtag.

As artists, they understood that there is a lot of criticism surrounding design challenges for important issues, but they felt it was their responsibility to use their platforms to help support causes they believe in—even if that means losing a few followers along the way.

The initial artists involved include Scott Biersack, Allison Black, Noah Camp, Tad Carpenter, Candace Carson, Yao Cheng, Lisa Congdon, Jon Contino, Jill Dehaan, James Edmondson, Maggie Enterrios, Jessica Hische, Adé Hogue, Lauren Hom, Kyle Letendre, Meg Lewis, Erik Marinovich, MaryKate McDevitt, Joana Muñoz, Jeff Rogers, Eso Tolson and Cymone Wilder.

Artworks from the Rise up. Show up. Unite! website and can be found on Instagram using the #riseupshowupunite hashtag.

Join in!

This project has taken on a life of its own with more than 1000 artists involved and 2000 artworks shared on Instagram! If you want to get involved, simply create a piece of art with the phrase “Rise up. Show up. Unite!” included and add the Biden/Harris logo. You can download a template to get you started here. When you post online, be sure to include the hashtag #riseupshowupunite and tag the @votejoe and @time2unite accounts.

"Thank you for RISING UP with us, SHOWING UP at the polls and through your mail-in ballots, and UNITING to defeat Trump!"

Artworks from the Rise up. Show up. Unite! website and can be found on Instagram using the #riseupshowupunite hashtag.

Explore the #riseupshowupunite tag on Instagram and other social media sites to see all of the amazing art created as part of the project! For the full recount of the project check out Jessica's article. More details about the project can also be found on Rise up. Show up. Unite! Website.