We the Resilient Shepard Fairey

We the Resilient Shepard Fairey

Following Donald Trump’s xenophobic and racist electoral campaign, and in the wake of his election to become 45^th President of the United States, in November of 2016, the artist Ernesto Yerena Montajana teamed up with fellow artists Jessica Sabogal and Shepard Fairey, and the non-profit Amplifier Foundation, a self-described ‘art machine for social change’ to produce works for the Foundation’s We the People campaign. The campaign’s objective was to flood Washington D.C. with symbols of hope on January 20^th of this year, the date of Trump’s inauguration. And indeed, pictures of the demonstrations that took place that day indicate the efficacy of the campaign. Looking at those pictures we see people marching in their numbers carrying the images created by Fairey, one of an African-American woman, another of a Muslim woman, and one of a Latino woman, each titled, “We the People”. We also see Sabogal’s image being displayed, depicting two women, looking at each other tenderly, one above the other, whose neck she holds, and whose hat reads ‘Women are perfect’. The image itself is titled underneath, “We the Indivisible”.   He became widely known during the 2008 U.S. presidential election for his Barack Obama "Hope" poster. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston has described him as one of the best known and most influential street artists. His work is included in the collections at: - the Smithsonian, - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, - the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, - the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, - the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., - the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, - the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. We the Resilient Shepard Fairey