The black white mixed image is part of a curatorial project created by Minneapolis College of Art and Design professor Kali Nikitas “Soul Design,” in which designers were challenged to honor someone influential to them. Eighteen designers from around the country were invited to submit 11x17" designs to be published in a book (Soul Design is sold via Emigre catalog), and as part of an exhibit both in Twin Cities and Olso, Norway. As a means of distributing the creative work publicly, the printed images were displayed in large stacks, with viewers encouraged to take the prints with them from the gallery.

In this piece, “black white mixed,” Steven McCarthy depicts himself in a very coarse bitmap image with his birth certificate behind his head. In it, a bi-racial background is revealed, with accompanying graphics referring to percentages of the ‘one drop’ mentality that has defined Americans' views of racial polarity.