Favianna Rodriguez

Rodriguez was drawn to posters and reproducible art like printmaking for their power to educate, organize, and liberate communities. Her illustrations have become synonymous with grassroots efforts to defend a variety of issues ranging from ethnic studies, immigrant and women’s rights, affirmative action to patriarchy, interdependence, food justice, environmental and racial justice, sustainability, and youth activism.

Rodriguez's most recent project in November 2018, is her work with ice cream company, Ben & Jerry's. Rodriguez designed fantastical and colorful packaging for the limited edition flavor, Pecan Resist, which was created to resist the Trump administration. As part of the project, Ben & Jerry's is donating $25,000 to Neta, Color of Change, Honor the Earth, and the Women's March. The design depicts two characters: one is a gender-queer character with their fist up in the air and the other, which holds a sign that reads "resist", is wearing a hijab to pay homage to one of Rodriguez's close friends. The design is vibrant and colorful, and works to empower minorities.

Rodriguez is the Executive Director and co-founder of CultureStrike, a national network of artists and activists who support the national and global arts movement around immigration. She serves on the board of Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities. She served as interim co-director until August 2016.

In 2013, Rodriguez worked with the YouTube channel I Am Other to create Migration is Beautiful, a three-part documentary series that addresses the debate surrounding immigration policy in the United States and the perception of immigrants.

Rodriguez's art is typified by high-contrast colors and graphic figures. Rodriguez is renowned for her bold posters on immigration, racism, war, globalization, and social movements. Rodriguez has worked closely with artists in Mexico, Europe, and Japan, and her works have appeared in collections at Bellas Artes, The Glasgow Print Studio, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2008, Rodriguez was named one of Utne Reader magazine’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World."

In addition, her works have been displayed in England, Belgium, and Mexico. She was a 2005 artist-in-residence at San Francisco's de Young Museum, a 2007-2008 artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA), and received a 2006 Sea Change Residency from the Gaea Foundation (Provincetown, MA). Rodriguez is recipient of a 2005 award from the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.

In 2003, with Jesus Barraza, Rodriguez helped establish the Taller Tupac Amaru print studio to promote the practice of screen printing among California-based artists and foster its resurgence. She is also a member of the Justseeds Cooperative which distributes prints and publications about social and environmental movements. Through these programs, Rodriguez has mentored dozens of emerging young artists and helped establish a multi-use arts facility in the heart of working-class East Oakland.

After graduating from Skyline High School in 1996, Rodriguez received numerous scholarships and chose to attend the University of California Berkeley. She withdrew at age 20 indicating she wanted to follow her own path rather than limit herself to her parents’ wishes. She was inspired by printmaking, introduced to her by Chicana artist Yreina Cervantez, and decided to pursue a career in political art.

Favianna Rodriguez (born September 26, 1978) is an American artist and activist. She has self-identified as queer and Latina with Afro-Peruvian roots. Rodriguez began as a political poster designer in the 1990s in the struggle for racial justice in Oakland, California. Rodriguez is known for using her art as a tool for activism. Her designs and projects range on a variety of different issues including globalization, immigration, feminism, patriarchy, interdependence, and genetically modified foods. Rodriguez is a co-founder of Presente.org and is the Executive Director of Culture Strike, "a national arts organization that engages artists, writers and performers in migrant rights. "

Rodriguez was born in the Fruitvale neighborhood of east Oakland, California in 1978. Her parents are Peruvian, having migrated to California from Peru in the late 1960s. Rodriguez’s artistic talents emerged at a young age; during primary school Rodriguez won art contests and once appeared on Spanish television to share her artwork. Her parents supported her art but pressured her to pursue a career in medicine or engineering.

Rodriguez has been influenced by the Chicano Movement and feminist art of the 1970s and 1980s. She has studied the history of political art, including the artwork and graphics associated with the Black Panthers and the 1970s feminist movement, through her residency at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles.