Happy Book Birthday: Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide, a Politics & Collage Project

It’s been a wonderful year for books so far. Angela Chee’s Power of the Only came out with a beautiful bang, and another long-awaited title is on its way in September. Thrilling.

But today is a little different. Today, rather than share a client’s work, I’d like to throw some virtual confetti for a new book I’m part of.

The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide (ARSG) is now out and available to order from The Kolaj Institute.

(Canadian friends, scroll to the bottom for a Canadian dollar link!)

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What am I most excited about, and what’s different about this title, relative to my others? Well…

This is a collaborative mash-up book.*

That means we took some fierce writing about resisting authoritarianism in Europe from Martin Mycielski on Twitter (at the start of the first Trump presidency) and fed it to the hearts and minds of a bunch of aberrant collage artists. This writer + artists mix was a refreshing example of what unexpected mashups can lead to:

“Hey! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!”
“No, YOU got your peanut butter on MY chocolate!”

“Heeeeey, wait a second…” Cue sounds of unexpected yumminess.

*It’s true that collaborative books can be a terrible mess, and I’ve mostly declined editing/participating in them for one reason: lack of coherence AKA no central ‘why bother?’

But the Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide is actually the opposite, and has been curated in a wildly synergistic way. The writing on its own was already powerful. So powerful that it seeded over 30 pieces of original art. Put them together and what have we got? The art puts a megaphone on the writing, and the writing is the gravity that lets the art stand tall.

The art inside the ARSG emerged from a collective process.

This means a posse of incredibly talented people got to get angry and sad, feel gutted and depressed together, and then ripped, tore, cut, glued, and exacto-knifed our way through.

I’ve craved this kind of creative commons since I drew my first elephant as an adult in 2021. Turns out, the hosts of this project at the Kolaj Institute know how to do ‘art collective!’ I mean, as I flip through the pages of this book, I marvel at the wildly disparate works and approaches. (I don’t know when I’ll get to contribute again to a group that spans six decades like this, but I am on the lookout.)

And of course…

Making this art collaboratively and as a collective… in the face of the desperate abuses of power in American society (where I have so many dear friends and clients) the word for this is not so much exciting, but it is certainly meaningful.

If you’re in or near New Orleans, you can visit the group exhibit until August 31, 2025.

Collage As Art Movement, part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans. More info here.

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Or, from anywhere in the world, you can join in > > >

LIVE Online: Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide *Book Launch*

Saturday, 26 July 2025, 3PM EDT
With Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour, collage artists who participated in the project, and Martin Mycielski, author of the text of the book originally published on Twitter. #LearnFromEurope

Free admission - tickets here.

There’s more to share about the four pieces I contributed (including one about an elephant, natch - and one that was quite sobering to put together. Not to mention the pieces that didn’t get included in the book.) I’ll share more soon.

Meanwhile, my heart’s wish is for a copy of this new book to land in your mailbox soon. That is if there’s room in your life - or on your bedside table - for a serious yet joyful, provocative and very human book about freedom for everyone, and why we must / how we can continue to create the conditions for it.

If you order a copy, hit reply to let me know. I have an old-school gift I’m preparing that I’d love to send your way. 😊

Until next time,

Andrea

P.S. It’s one thing to describe it, and another to see it…so here’s a peek inside:

Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide published by Kolaj Institute & Maison Kasini Canada | 100 pages

ISBN 978-1-927587-74-4

ARSG text © Martin Mycielski

Introduction text © Ric Kasini Kadour

Artwork © the respective artists

Exhibit Photos: Jennifer R. Myhre

Cover Photo, selfie and video flip-through: Andrea J. Lee