The Passing Of A True Inspiration
On September 25th at 3.11pm I found out that my first Graphic Design lecturer had passed away earlier that morning.
Some people may not remember their college peers but Carolyn Gammon was a beacon of light quite literally, with a giant mass of curls on top of the smallest head I think I’ve ever seen. Carolyn was and still is one of the few people I am most grateful to for sparking my career in design.
Graphic What?
When I was fourteen, my older cousin introduced the possibility of taking Graphic Design as a subject in college. I was dumbfounded, I had taken every art subject under the sun at school but had no idea what I could to do with them in the real world. And there it was staring me straight in the face… copy your cousin. She’s smart.
So although Carolyn wasn’t my first introduction to design - she was certainly one of the biggest inspirations.
Stumbling into her class on the first day, new pencil case in tow, Carolyn introduced herself and told us to get familiar, 'play around’ in Photoshop and Illustrator on the Apple Macs. At that point in my life I thought apples were just for eating, I am now much wiser.
College
Once I had learned the basics whilst loosely ‘designing’ flyers, posters, album covers, and every other piece of shit collateral I could think of Carolyn helped me understand the power of design. Allowing one the freedom to have a voice, a perspective through a visual medium. She showed me the effect design has in our society and how it contributes to structuring the unconscious.
By year two, I thought of Carolyn as more of a teacher cum friend, I’m pretty certain she did not think the same of me but her way of teaching combined with the classroom banter made my classmates and I feel like we were all part of the same crowd, there was a camaraderie that did not require a hierarchical role (most of the time). A-level year brought tougher projects, I wasn’t just dicking around in Adobe anymore, Carolyn was clear that our work had to mean something.
Design With A Voice
I do not consider myself an arse licker however I do always find myself desperate to impress people that I find inspiring. So to prove to Carolyn (and myself) that I could in fact design, and that shy sixteen year old me did in fact have a voice, for my final A-level project I centred all my thinking around 'The Power of the Placard’.
Okay, that seems a little waffly now but at the time I thought it was genius, there was so much going on in the world, protests and placards were everywhere from gay pride to legalising abortion to the war on terrorism. My research led me down all kinds of rabbit holes until Carolyn thankfully streamlined my thinking and mentioned the name Brian Haw. I then focused my entire project around his mission.
If You Want Something Bad Enough
Brian Haw, is a world renowned peace campaigner, who camped outside the British parliament for ten years. He became such a thorn in the side of the establishment that MPs introduced a law against protests within one mile of parliament. The MP’s however failed to anticipate that their restriction could not be applied retrospectively to Brian, who carried on his highly visible protest in Parliament Square long before, and long after the law had come into place.
Sickeningly the police found a loophole in the law and dubbed Brians protest material rubbish, they then proceeded to remove the 'litter' over 500 weather-worn placards, banners, photos, flags and messages from well-wishers, all gone in one clean swoop.
After heavy discussions with Carolyn she said, ‘We’re going to London on a college trip. We’ll go meet the man himself.' Carolyn had no boundaries, much like the other people who have influenced my path. She said, without saying it, if you want something bad enough, no matter how big or small - go get it. I am so grateful to have learnt such an empowering lesson at such a young age.
Later that term we found ourselves driving around London in a coach full of random college students. Then all of sudden as if we were in a movie, Big Ben chimed and Carolyn stood up shouting to the driver to stop, before I knew it we were pretty much stopping in the middle of road in front of parliament. Carolyn grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off the coach. We walked straight up to Brian Haw and without an ounce of shame Carolyn announced to him, 'This is Holly Griffin, she’s doing her A-level project on peaceful protests, she wants to ask you some questions and wants to get a photo’. In 2007, Brian was awarded the Channel 4 News award for Most Inspiring Political Figure of the Year.
Also in 2007, artist Mark Wallinger recreated Brian's Parliament Square protest in its entirety as an exhibition at Tate Britain. It was perfectly titled State Britain, the reconstruction of the display confiscated by the Metropolitan Police in 2006, and included the 500 weather-worn placards, banners, photos, flags and messages from well-wishers collected by Brian over the duration of his peace protest. The one mile radius of parliament just so happens to run directly through the Tate Britain, this is where it was displayed - through every room, right along the one mile radius.
But most importantly in 2007 I received an A for my A-level in Graphic Design, entirely due to my inspirational lecturer with the tiniest head.
Life
To Carolyns kind husband Gos, gorgeous son Rudy, and sassy daughter Mira. I am truly grateful for Carolyn and her creativity, positivity and guidance through such an impressional time. There are few people who have truly influenced my path in life, I could name them on my eight tattooed fingers.
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Carolyn had secondary breast cancer, she fought a bloody good fight for over four years. We spoke last month, like we did from time to time, over good old Facebook messenger. She mentioned she had recently come across the photo of us with Brain Haw. She also said a few things that really stood out, and are now even more prevalent…
1. Have perspective.
2. Age is a state of mind.
3. Live your best life whatever the fuck that means.