The mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout LA County. We fulfill our mission by providing services and support in areas including grants and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations; professional development opportunities; commissioning civic artworks and managing the County’s civic art collection; implementing countywide arts education initiatives; research and evaluation; career pathways in the creative economy; free community programs; and cross sector creative strategies that address civic issues. This work is framed by the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative and a longstanding commitment to fostering access to the arts.
In 2019, the Board of Supervisors introduced a motion directing the Women and Girls Initiative to collaborate with the Department of Arts and Culture to commission artists to create commemorative artworks for the Centennial Celebration of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Six artists, including Andrea Monroe, Amy Smith, Clarence J. Williams III, Laura Vasquez Rodriguez, Moses X Ball, and Ragni Agarwal, were selected to design artwork for this project. The resulting artworks reflect a diversity of women and perspectives and highlight themes such as empowerment, civic engagement, resiliency, and the right to vote. Each artwork will be installed at various facilities throughout LA County for the public to enjoy and inspire residents to vote. The artworks were also reproduced as a limited run of posters available to the public and County departments and three designs were selected to be reproduced as limited-edition library cards and bookmarks.
Driven by a pop-art aesthetic and bold colors, the underlying theme in Ragni Agarwal’s work is the beauty of diversity and inclusion. Her piece is derived from Martin Schoeller’s portrait for Vanity Fair of six freshman congresswomen from the class of 2018, the most diverse in history, showing how a woman’s right to vote directly impacts her life. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Deb Haaland, Veronica Escobar, and Sharice Davids are exercising their civic duty by serving in office, a direct outcome of the 19th Amendment. By doing so, they continue to raise the glass ceiling for all women.
About the Artist:
Ragni Agarwal is an art director, graphic designer, and illustrator living in Los Angeles. Mental health, body (dis)illusions, and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors are the focus of her work. She creates bold, beautiful images that are reflective of the dark and the light inside everyone. She does not believe in societal pressures or definitions of beauty, and addresses these issues head-on through her work, drawing women in all their beautiful forms, shapes, sizes, and colors.
To learn more, visit: http://www.ragniagarwal.com/
