MALA

Make America Love Again

PRESS RELEASE

MALA meme campaign aims to refocus Americans towards love.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 26, 2026 — Seth Indigo Carnes, a conceptual artist based in New York City, launched MALA (“Make America Love Again”) with a meme campaign aimed at refocusing Americans towards love.

Love’s in need of love today, don’t delay, send yours in right away.
– Stevie Wonder.

The MALA design is reminiscent of pop art and Milton Glaser’s “i love NY” design, with the animations looping between the two states of the design in repeating patterns that range in style from meditative to high energy; the musical score for each animation complements the mood and style.

Reflecting on the project, Carnes notes, “When in doubt, choose love. These memes remind us what’s important in life and politics.”

The MALA idea originally surfaced in a conversation between Carnes and Morena Escardo, focused on an alternative to the divisive and regressive focus of MAGA. Carnes soon created the artwork matched to the idea, which then inspired Gary Breslin, Executive Creative Director of ODD studio, to donate studio time to animate the MALA design.

The first set of animations based on Seth’s storyboards were completed within a week. Guitarist and composer Gyan Riley soon agreed to compose music for the first set of MALA animations, and Gregory Reeves joined soon after to compose music for remainder.

A set of eight musically scored MALA animations were released on Giphy as a meme campaign, in both traditional GIF files and “clips” that feature the musical score. They have been viewed over 1.3 million times since release in late April 2026.

The MALA project invites supporters to either spread the campaign’s memes directly from the MALA project page or by using them directly via Giphy. A kiosk on Etsy features limited edition MALA merchandise, where all proceeds go towards amplifying the spread of these memes.

For more information about the MALA campaign, please visit the project page. To view the MALA kiosk on Etsy, visit soulincode.etsy.com. To see the project on Instagram, visit @malaforall

ABOUT SETH INDIGO CARNES

Seth Indigo Carnes, aka [sic], is a post-conceptual artist with a multidisciplinary practice, focused in language art, public art, digital art, cinema, performance, installation, research, and publishing. Carnes’ projects are led by concept, process, and inquiry, making use of both physical and digital media. His artwork and projects have been featured in a variety of art venues, including PS1 MoMA, the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, the Emily Harvey Foundation, Microscope Gallery, Garis & Hahn, and many more; he has also performed throughout the United States, in Europe, and Japan. Past collaborations include work with Paul Miller (DJ Spooky), Shepard Fairey, Thierry Geoffrey, Simona Blat, and the TXT collective. Born in California, Carnes has a BA in History from Pomona College and MS in Integrated Design and Media from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is currently based between New York City, the Catskills, and Lisbon. For more information, please visit sic.studio

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN (ODD)

ODD is an award-winning design studio led by Gary Breslin, known for its innovative approach to creative development, collaboration, and execution. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, ODD has worked with various artists and brands to bring impactful projects to life. To explore ODD’s design projects, visit odd.tv

ABOUT GYAN RILEY

Gyan is a guitarist and composer who has written music for the Kronos Quartet, New Music USA, the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the American Composers Forum, the New York Guitar Festival and documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. He has performed with Paul Simon, Zakir Hussain, Lou Reed, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, the Kronos Quartet, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth), Devendra Banhart, Julian Lage, Nico Muhly, Glenn Kotche, the San Francisco Symphony, and his father, the renowned composer Terry Riley. To learn more about Gyan Riley, visit gyanriley.com

ABOUT GREGORY REEVES

Los Angeles-based Cordovan Music is composer Gregory Reeves, creating original music for TV, film, interactive, advertising, multimedia installations, and more. Clients include Toyota, Google, Apple, Target, Coke, Nike, Sony, Chevy, Hyundai, Ubisoft, History Channel, Fox, Converse, Mastercard, Adobe, HP, and too many others to list. He has scored feature and short drama, documentary, and comedy films, and his music has appeared in series like Sons of Anarchy, The Originals, Shameless, and others. To learn more about Gregory Reeves, visit cordovanmusic.com