all images jay giroux The READ icon was created in 2005 by US-based artist Jay Giroux. The campaign, now known as the READ Movement, began shortly after Giroux worked with artist Shepard Fairey (OBEY) during a week-long postering mission throughout Tampa, in conjunction with the Beautiful Losers exhibit at the US Contemporary Art Museum. Giroux's passion for reading — along with a study-abroad program in London that exposed him to groups of readers commuting on the underground Metro — led him to sketch a blindfolded women emerging from a butterfly, symbolic of reading’s transformative power. In 2014, Giroux gifted the image to the Two Story Foundation, a fledgling non-profit with a mission to promote book culture and celebrate tangible books, for use as a tool in sharing their message. Now you can help spread the word and encourage reading in your community. Contact us to find out how to get your own READ Movement stickers.