Why are women absent from design history? Why have women with remarkable careers been forgotten? What were the mechanisms that allowed these gaps?

In Portugal, although slowly, the absence of literature on the history of graphic design is being addressed, but in the few books that are beginning to be published, few women are highlighted. The existing canon in graphic design is not only filled by men, but also propagated by them. For this reason, adding women to the canon alone is not enough, it is crucial to understand how and by whom history is made.

Errata, Isabel Duarte's project, seeks, through writing, research and education, to reveal the stories of women who have remained invisible in history, and in doing so bring to light the mechanisms present in industry, society and historiography that have allowed these women to be forgotten.

Isabel Duarte, graphic designer and researcher, focuses her practice on the intersection between the history of graphic design and feminism. She attends the PhD programme of History of Design at the University of Brighton (UK) where she continues the research project Errata, started in 2020 and which was presented in Porto in the format of an exhibition - Errata: A Feminist Revision to the History of Portuguese Graphic Design - with co-curatorship by Olinda Martins. In parallel, Isabel Duarte develops the podcast Errata where she chats with thinkers, curators, historians and designers about their experiences and their work. She was also the designer of ArtReview, Eye Magazine and Voca.

The conference takes place in the context of the KYRT project, a synthesis project of the 3rd year of the Degree in Communication Design, on the 24th April, at 11:30 am, in the auditorium of ESAD.

Créditos