These Hand-Drawn Stacey Abrams T-Shirts Support Voter Turnout in Georgia
Politics

These Hand-Drawn Stacey Abrams T-Shirts Support Voter Turnout in Georgia

by Dylan Kelly

Artist Dana Veraldi is making a real-world impact, one cartoonish portrait at a time. Along with her business partner Kevin Tekinel, the 36-year-old visionary is a founder of DeerDana — a line of pictorial t-shirts and tote bags featuring hand-drawn illustrations of cultural icons including Frida Kahlo, Marilyn Manson, Dolly Parton, Martin Scorsese and Grace Jones — and as of late, her designs have taken on a vital, philanthropic responsibility.

"My brand is a creative outlet for me as an artist and a way for me to shed light on people and issues I care about," Veraldi tells PAPER. "Some of my most meaningful designs and collaborations have been charity-driven, including working with Darren Aronofsky to raise money for Standing Rock and with my sister-brand Animalia that is connected directly to wildlife conservation."

Now, in light of Georgia's imminently approaching run-off elections, Veraldi's next drawing spotlights Stacey Abrams — the politician and voting rights activist who is credited with registering over 800,000 first-time Georgia voters through her self-founded organization Fair Fight and widely applauded for her work in transforming the southern state into a battleground.

"Stacey Abrams and I were both raised with similar values — go to school, go to church and take care of each other," said Veraldi. "Taking care of each other is what Stacey has made her life purpose; she cares deeply for the underserved, underrepresented and most vulnerable members of society."

"Stacey has accomplished so much, but she especially deserves to be celebrated for her organization Fair Fight, which encourages voter participation and educates voters about their rights," she continued. "As someone who also wears many hats, I love that Stacey is an author as well as an activist. (She writes romance novels, thrillers and political nonfiction!) Thank you, Stacey, for all that you do."

The charitable, limited-edition design arrives on t-shirts and sweatshirts (in adults, kids and baby sizes), and all of the profits from each sale will be split evenly between Leader Abrams' Fair Fight, Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock's election campaigns.

Support Stacey Abrams' voter participation efforts ahead of Georgia's January 5 run-off elections with DeerDana, here.

Photos courtesy of Dana Veraldi