It's All Graphic #16: Not so Universal

Not so Universal: Approaches to Decolonizing Visual Archives

DATUM: 22 September 2026
TIJD: 20:00–22:00
LOCATIE: Pakhuis de Zwijger
TAAL: Engels
Free and paid tickets available here!

Decolonization, the process of exposing supposedly universal Western cultural patterns of thought, is a highly complex, multi-layered process. Within the cultural sphere, and therefore also within the field of graphic design, decoloniality is an increasingly important topic. This interest and sense of urgency are reflected, amongst other things, in various initiatives that take a renewed, decolonial look at cultural archives, institutional as well as informal or personal ones.

This edition of ‘It’s All Graphic’ explores how designers are bringing suppressed stories to light and actively working on decolonial alternatives for the creation, preservation and revitalization of archives. How have cultural archives historically contributed to the construction of colonized peoples as ‘the other’? How, on the other hand, do contemporary graphic designers use archives to bring a decolonial perspective to the fore and present alternatives, whilst at the same time critiquing that more ‘colonial’ form of archiving? Finally, how do personal memory, collective memory and institutionalized archives relate to one another?

To explore these questions, the following three makers will share insights from their practice in relation to the topic:

. Mirelle van Tulder is an artist, designer, and researcher. The core of her work is the search for stories that foster dialogue around the power structures that shape graphic design and art history. In 2019 she founded the publishing house Roots to Fruits, promoting intergenerational and decolonial dialogue by publishing overlooked archival material, making unknown works available to new and expanded audiences.

. Marcos Kueh is a Bornean textile artist, based in the Netherlands, with a background in graphic design and advertising. Kueh has been engaged with questions of identity and how Malaysia is perceived through colonial depictions or in tourism advertising. The practice of seeking reconciliation on these representations versus his lived experience growing up in Borneo, forms the fundamentals in how he participates in global discourses.

. Rasha Dakkak is a Palestinian maker and researcher. Since 2024, she has been Head of the Graphic Design bachelor’s program at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, where she also teaches. Her practice examines images and language as forms of soft power, asking how they produce meaning, shape perception, and establish authority. Moving across making, writing, publishing, curating, and teaching, she considers how visual and linguistic forms circulate and become embedded in everyday life. In 2018, she founded Bayn, a publishing initiative that considers graphic design where it is not always named as such.

moderators:

. Setareh Noorani is an architect, researcher and curator at Nieuwe Instituut whose practice focuses on feminist, decolonial, non-institutional, and more-than-human perspectives in the way we build, remember and change cities. Setareh argues for alternative futures that foreground underexposed voices and forms of collectivity, translating research into exhibitions, publications, and public programmes.

. Astrid Vorstermans is the founder of Valiz, an independent international publishing platform in Amsterdam on art, design, theory and urban issues. Vorstermans is also a member of the board of the Wim Crouwel Institute in Amsterdam.

On the organizers:

It's all Graphic is a series of events on graphic design, addressing its cultural and social impact. It is co-produced between the Wim Crouwel Instituut and Pakhuis de Zwijger, and supported by the NADD (Netwerk Archieven Design en Digitale Cultuur). The Wim Crouwel Institute investigates the heritage, current and future position of Dutch graphic design. The Wim Crouwel Institute is supported by Pictoright Fonds, het Cultuurfonds, Allard Pierson, and the Amsterdam University Fund.

Banner design by Omid Nemalhabib