Last semester, art students in Brett Colley’s GVSU class on printmaking, invited me to come talk about the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. The intent of the class was to have students investigate their own part of a People’s History of Grand Rapids and then make a print based upon an individual social movement or a particular moment in Grand Rapids history.

This print is by Erin Eastham and it focuses on the 1990s Animal Rights/Animal Liberation Movement in West Michigan, know as West Michigan for Animals. The print specifically draws attention to the anti-vivisection organizing being done by the group and focuses on a former school teacher Dick Mercer, who was integral to the anti-vivisection organizing.

For more articles and interviews with people involved in the local animal rights movement, click here.