“Cartoons for Peace and Justice”, a project of SOS ART, consists of a series of cartoon books, each on a given theme of peace and justice. Each book, composed of 2 stories on the same theme, is illustrated by two different Greater Cincinnati artists or groups of artists. These books are given free to local elementary and middle schools to share with their students to teach about the concepts and content presented through the stories with the hope to inspire students’ artistic creativity in line with the addressed theme. To date, cartoon books have been created based on themes of: Acceptance, Neurodiversity, Compassion, Endangered Animals, Technology, Responsibility, Hunger, and the Environment.

Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, Ms. Schorsch collaborated with a few of the OHHS National Art Honor Society members on the creation of a cartoon book addressing the concept of Gentrification. Together, they collaborated on brainstorming the story of “A Changing City” to communicate the concept to middle school students. Kalli Langdon crafted the written portion of the tale that explains changes that have happened in the city through the eyes of the ‘Genius of Water’. Molly Audretch, Rain Magrum, Finley Nguyen, and Leah Stolla conducted research into the history of the iconic locations in our city that saw significant changes to their neighborhoods and created images to visually tell the tale. Ms. Schorsch acted as the inker and editor of the final cartoon book.

This fall, “A Changing City” will be paired with a story about the impacts of Gentrification created by students in Oaxaca, Mexico. The books will then be added to the growing library of “Cartoons for Peace and Justice” and distributed free to local schools. You can preview the story below by clicking the image.

To learn more about “Cartoons for Peace” and view the published books, visit: https://sosartcincinnati.com/cartoons-for-peace/