Yes. We’re a little obsessed with the number.
There are thirteen environments at the center of THE 13.
Thirteen chapters in the graphic novel.
Thirteen charitable organizations we intend to support.
Our sister gallery, FRENETK, directs 13% of every sale to THE 13.
And the number will continue appearing in places that are occasionally obvious and occasionally less so.
But thirteen isn’t there because somebody decided it looked mysterious on a website.
It has become something more useful: A constraint.
Constraints force decisions.
There are thousands of extraordinary nonprofit organizations doing important work. We cannot meaningfully support all of them. So we choose thirteen.
There are hundreds of social, environmental, economic and cultural problems worth discussing. We cannot build a movement around all of them equally. So we define thirteen environments through which to examine them.
There are endless directions a story can take. Thirteen chapters force us to decide what matters.
That limitation is intentional.
Because one of the problems with trying to solve everything is that eventually everything becomes abstraction.
THE 13 is designed to resist that.
Thirteen organizations.
Thirteen environments.
Thirteen chapters.
Specific choices.
Specific commitments.
Specific actions.
As THE 13 grows, you’ll meet the organizations. You’ll discover the environments. You’ll encounter the story.
And you’ll probably begin noticing the number thirteen in places you weren’t expecting it.
We apologize in advance. Actually, no we don’t.
