Each year, the Basque newspaper Berria in collaboration with Oninart, invite three Basque designers to take part in a creative challenge called Trixertak. The designers have 48 hours to create a limited edition t-shirt design based around a current affairs news item, before they are put on sale in the online shop.
Together with the Txakur Gorria collective, and Pergoi Lab, I was invited to take part in the 2018 Trixertak challenge. The subject I was given was “La manada” – a gang rape trial that captured the attention of the world.
The subject
A Spanish court convicted five men (including a Guardia Civil policeman and a military officer) of the lesser offence of sexual abuse, as opposed to the gang rape of a teenager during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona in 2016. The ruling sparked outrage across the Basque Country, Spain and further afield. The five rapists, who dubbed themselves “la manada” (‘the wolfpack‘ in Spanish), planned the attack and even filmed it on their phones as they took it in turns to abuse this defenceless and terrified girl.
Context
How do you begin to translate such a sensitive subject into a design that people will wear with pride on a t-shirt?
I didn’t want to glorify or illustrate in any way the “wolfpack“. To portray these savages as wolves would be degrading to wolves! Neither did I want to focus on the negative. The t-shirt had to carry a message of hope and solidarity, in the face of injustice and oppression.
”If you remain silent in situations of injustice, then you have chosen the side of the oppressor.
Desmond Tutu
Solution
The design needed to voice a positive message of solidarity. I chose to base it on arguably the most famous of Basque poems, “nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut“ by Gabriel Aresti from his book Harri eta Herri – . The opening lines translate as follows:
I will defend the house of my father
Against wolves
Against drought,
Against usury,
Against Justice,
I will defend the house of my father.
The parallels between this old poem and the current news story were shockingly stark, but it needed to be brought into context. After seeking the advice of two Basque authors, I changed some of the words to read:
I will defend my sister
Against wolves
Against attack,
Against violence,
Against Justice,
I will defend my sister.
Originally I settled for “emakumea defendituko dut”, (I will defend the woman), but after further consultation with my friends, we thought that the word “ahizpa” (sister) was more suitable. In Basque grammar, “ahizpa” can only be used by a female addressing her sister, thus strengthening the voice for women, making the fight personal.
Tempting as it was, I also chose not to change the word “justice” to “injustice”. We live in a flawed world. We are the flaw and the justice system we have in place is of our own making. If we want to see change, it must begin in us.
