‘We the People’: Obama ‘Hope’ artist recreates campaign for Trump

Graphic artist Shepard Fairey relaunched his poster campaign for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump titled ‘We the People.’ It aims to ‘disrupt the rising tide of hate and fear in America.’ SHEPHARD FAIREY / THEAMPLIFIERFOUNDATION.ORG

The American graphic artist who created the iconic “Hope” posters of outgoing US President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election is recreating his street art campaign of hope for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump to “disrupt the rising tide of hate and fear in America.”

But the new campaign, dubbed as “We the People,” does not feature the face of the celebrity businessman turned politician, but instead banners the faces of ordinary and diverse set of people who were the subject of Trump’s discriminatory attacks in the campaign trail.

This time, the posters feature the faces of the marginalized, including a Muslim woman, a Latina woman, and an African-American kid, with the texts: “We the People Defend Dignity,” “We the People Protect Each Other,” “We the People are Greater than Fear.”

Shepard Fairey and fellow artists Ernesto Yerena and Jessica Sabogal collaborated with The Amplifier Foundation, which plans to distribute the posters as placards throughout Washington and publish them as full-page ads in newspapers, particularly the Washington Post, “so that people across the capitol and across the country will be able to carry them into the streets, hang them in windows, or paste them on walls” on Inauguration Day.

“We believe art has the power to wake up people. Eight years ago, the artist Shepard Fairey made the iconic image that captured a period of HOPE in America. Today we are in a very different moment, one that requires new images that reject the hate, fear, and open racism that were normalized during the 2016 presidential campaign. So on Inauguration Day, We the People will flood Washington, DC with NEW symbols of hope,” the nonprofit foundation said.

“This art is meant to spark a conversation, and after January 20, our work will continue. What does WE THE PEOPLE—these three famous words in the preamble to the Constitution—mean in the 21st century? Over the next several months, Amplifier will partner with organizations, schools, and everyday families to create spaces across the county, in both red states and blue, where we can speak, listen, and share our answers,” it added.

The Amplifier Foundation collaborated with Kickstarter Project for the crowd funding of the ads. For every donation of over $5, the group said it would send a postcard art of a donor’s choosing to the incoming President after he assumes office.

“We the People” art is now free to the public:  https://bit.ly/2jhebQH

“This art is for EVERYONE and we want EVERYONE to have it now so you can start printing it, pasting it, pinning it to your wall, wearing it on your head, make a paper airplane . . . share it, wear it, however your heart desires,” the group said. CBB