Bold Type: Stand Up KC Designs by KCAI's tyler galloway on View at Charlotte Street
01.27.2026
KCUR recently reported on Stand Up Fight Back: Designing an Anti-Racist Movement for Worker Power, an exhibition featuring full-size street banners, silkscreen posters, and dozens of event flyers used in rallies by the local fast food and retail workers’ group Stand Up KC.
The KCUR article focused on the exhibition’s concept and included an interview with tyler galloway, KCAI professor and Joyce C. Hall Chair of Graphic Design:
Read the full article here. The following is an excerpt:
"The show centers on imagery from Stand Up KC’s anti-racist, working-class advocacy, dominated by the vivid red shirts and blocky white lettering that has come to define public demonstrations for the group since 2011.
The bold designs were created by tyler galloway, a professor and chair of the graphic design department at the Kansas City Art Institute.
'I have a love for all things social justice, in terms of my design practice,' galloway said, 'so it was kind of a dream for me to be able to work on those things.'
Normally, items like posters and banners are used for a single day or march, and are often damaged or discarded in the process. Showcased in Charlotte Street’s gallery, though, they help illustrate how design can communicate a lasting record of a movement that might otherwise be ephemeral, galloway said.
'They did a really great job — partly out of economic necessity — because they (Stand Up KC) spent good money to have good quality things made,' galloway said. 'The banners were printed digitally onto canvas and the posters were silk-screened on this nice cardstock, so they wanted to keep all that stuff, and they reused it and reused it.'"
Public Persuasion
On Saturday, January 31, 2026, from 1–3 PM, Galloway will lead a hands-on workshop at Charlotte Street, drawing from his experience to explore what makes a protest poster effective.
“graphic design can be a powerful tool for social change, whether on a national or individual level,” galloway writes in the workshop description. “we’ll talk briefly about messaging, ideas, images, text, context, materials, and more. as we talk, we’ll quickly put those ideas into practice using a range of readily-available materials so you can try your hand at making your own posters for public use.”
Image Credit: Missouri Workers Center
Stand Up Fight Back: Designing an Anti-Racist Movement for Worker Power, on view through Saturday, February 28 at Charlotte Street Foundation, 333 Wyoming St., Kansas City, MO 64111.
For more information, visit the Charlotte Street website.