Open the Jan. 20 editions of The Washington Postor The New York Times, and youll find a stunning full-page ad staring back at you.
We the people, it reads, above an image of a woman in a red, white and blue headscarf, are greater than fear.
The defiant image comes courtesy of Shepard Fairey, the street artist behind the iconic Hope poster that circulated widely during former President Obamas campaign in 2008. Commissioned by the Amplifier Foundation, the We the People ad is part of a grassroots campaign originating on Kickstarter that raised over $1 million to place Faireys art in major newspapers on the day of President Donald Trumps inauguration.
Fairey, along with artists Jessica Sabogal and Ernesto Yerena, submitted work to the Amplifier Foundation in an effort to provide protest art for those marching on Washington, D.C., this weekend.In order to sidestep restrictions on signs and banners in some parts of the district and guarantee that the We the Peopleimages could be distributed in a short amount of time the foundation decided to pay for six newspaper ads that can be ripped out and taken to the streets.
You can see one of the NYT ads, reportedly also appearing in USA Today, courtesy of a photo from Brooklyn Street Arts Jaime Rojo and Steve Harrington, above.
According to the Amplifier Foundation, the poster art aims to visualize the non-partisan principles that always characterized the true spirit of America diversity, democracy and shared humanity.
We felt the phrase We the People is pretty important. It means everyone, Fairey explained to the LA Times, adding that he and the Amplifier Foundation wanted the posters to communicatethe idea of the melting pot and inclusion.
