Seed Pods of Democracy book cover. Courtesy of Associate Professor Moon Jang.

Associate Professor Moon Jung Jang was commissioned to direct the Democracy and Human Rights Poster Project from 2022 to 2024. This project was designed to celebrate a new beginning for the National Museum of Democracy and Human Rights (Seoul, South Korea) to preserve works on international democratization movements and to reflect on incidents and issues in the fight against state violence and anti-democratic ideologies in a world of increasing capitalization and polarization.

Jang has collaborated with two curators, Yumi Kang and Kyoungwon Kim, as well as 50 well-known artists and designers from around the world, such as Guerrilla Girls and Jonathan Barnbrook. In 2023, the artistic director of UGA Arts Collaborative Mark Callahan was invited to consult with her team on the project publication. In June 2024, a bilingual book of 416 pages titled Seed Pods of Democracy was published to accompany the Democracy Poster Project, one of the programs planned for the opening of the National Museum of Korean Democracy, including a project review, 100 posters, and five articles. In addition, the participants’ posters and the publication will be featured in an international exhibition at the National Museum of Democracy and Human Rights in Seoul in 2025. 

Seed Pods of Democracy is available at Draw Down Books in the US, and its ebook has been released on Google Play Books worldwide. Students at the University of Georgia can find the book in the UGA Art Library.

Participating artists and designers include —
Karo Akpokiere (Nigeria/Germany), Kim Albrecht (Germany), An Mano (South Korea), Jonathan Barnbrook (UK), Melinda Beck (USA), Chris Burnett (USA), cement (Hyojung Yang, Park Yonghoon, South Korea), Viktoria Cichoń (Germany), Sebastian Curi (Argentina/USA), Sethu Das (Design & People, India), Cristina Daura (Spain), Diana Ejaita (Nigeria/Italy/Germany), Everyday Practice (South Korea), Kyungmin Lee (flagflag, South Korea), Golden Cosmos (duo Doris Freigofas and Daniel Dolz, Germany), Good Question (Yuni Ooh, Sun-ah Shin, South Korea), Mark Gowing (Australia), Guerrilla Girls (USA), Jieun Guk (South Korea), High On Type (The Netherlands), Saki Ho (Hong Kong/Germany), Kateryna Korolevtseva (Ukraine/Germany), Mykola Kovalenko (Ukraine/Slovakia), Minho Kwon (South Korea), Chris Lee (Canada/USA), Jaeyoung Lee (6699press, South Korea), Jiwon Lee (archetypes, South Korea), Bernhard Lenger (Austria/The Netherlands), Elaine L. (China/USA.), Luis Mazón (Spain), Mun Sang (South Korea), Aaron Nieh (Taiwan), Yudai Osawa (Japan), Saehan Parc (South Korea/France), Raven, Fahmi Reza (Malaysia), Roshi Rouzbehani (Iran/UK), Frenci (Francesca) Sanna (Italy/Switzerland), Shin In-ah (South Korea), Luca Soncini (Italy), Elmer Sosa (Mexico), Elliot Stokes (USA), Studio Half-bottle (South Korea), Studio Rejane Dal Bello (UK), Pracha Suveeranont (Thailand), Anina Takeff (Bulgaria/Germany), This Ain't Rock'n'Roll (UK), Garth Walker (South Africa), and Yeji Yun (South Korea).