Shepard Fairey, the artist best known for his “HOPE” posters used by the Barack Obama campaign in 2008, is planning to roll out a new batch of anti-Trump art during the inauguration. His latest posters, to be distributed on the streets of DC, will feature stylized portraits of non-white women.
The artwork is a part of Fairey’s “We the People” series, which he made in collaboration with artists Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena, with funds coming from a Kickstarter project set up by a social justice organization called Amplifier Foundation. The campaign has amassed over $800,000.
All the money is set to go towards purchasing full-page advertisements in the Washington Post with the poster imagery. The ads will run on January 20, allowing anyone who buys the paper to use them in protest of Trump.
“Much of Washington will be locked down on Inauguration Day, and in some areas there will be severe restrictions on signs and banners,” reads the campaign. “But we’ve figured out a hack. It’s called the newspaper!”
“On January 20th, if this campaign succeeds, we’re going to take out full-page ads in the Washington Post with these images, 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.”
The campaign claims that for every dollar it receives, six ads will be printed and distributed.
In addition to the newspaper ads, Amplifier plans to distribute the images as large placards throughout Metro stops, from the back of moving vans, and drop spots throughout the city. From January 19, the artwork will also be available as free downloads.
Fairey hopes to flood Washington with new posters that “reject the hate, fear, and open racism that were normalized during the 2016 presidential campaign,” per the project description. Instead, “We the People” will flood the streets with “NEW symbols of hope.”
Like the Obama poster, the new ones feature stylized portraits in red, beige, and blue, followed by words like “defend dignity,” and “protect each other.”
Ian Miles Cheong is a journalist and outspoken media critic. You can reach him through social media at @stillgray on Twitter and on Facebook.