HAS HEART
There's No Place Like Home
[HAS HEART] is a non-profit organization that utilizes mediums of art, design, and fashion to benefit, inspire, and enrich our nation’s Veterans -- via [Has Heart]
Every year, [HAS HEART] pairs teams of designers and wounded veterans in-order to design a t-shirt detailing the veteran's story. The storytelling, implementation of design and creative direction is quite therapeutic and produces some pretty interesting works. All of the shirts are then released through their Hero[Series].
In 2013, U.S. Marine Chris Stevenson, Laura Wilusz, and I designed a shirt titled, "No Place Like Home."
While deployed in Iraq in 2005, Chris Stephenson and his convoy were hit by IEDs. He was thrown from the vehicle and suffered severe internal and external injuries. His comrades in the vehicle were killed instantly by the impact.
The symbols within his design represent this life-changing moment. The jagged lines represent the splitting of this humvee, while the triangles symbolize how he was launched into the air from the vehicle, which ultimately may have saved his life. The dotted lines are his unconnected memories, the flowers are the daisy chain of IEDs that his vehicle hit, and the swirls are the whirlwind recovery process that will never end for him.
At the foundation of everything, the Eagle represents his U.S. Marine brothers and sisters. No matter who you are or where you’ve been, there’s no place like home surrounded by the ones you love.
Some great outcomes of this engagement included getting to work with U.S. Marine Chris Stevenson and spend time with all of the veterans included in 2013. The 2013 Hero [Series] Art Prize venue was among most of the highly trafficked. The 2013 line was also exhibited at the Forbes Galleries in Greenwich Village.
I'm pretty sure my dad has a photo of Wally Forbes, Chris and I from the [HAS HEART] galley opening. At first, I had no idea who we were taking the photo with until Chris and my dad stepped me aside to explain.
This was a very happy experience.
You can purchase the shirt by clicking here.