WASHINGTON: The artist who designed the iconic ‘hope’ poster featuring Barack Obama in 2008 has released a similar Kamala Harris poster with a one-word exhortation, ‘progress‘, adding another dimension to a presidential election in which photos, images, and memes are playing a key role.
Shepard Fairey‘s stylized stencil portrait shows a radiant Kamala Harris in black, white, blue, and red colors, similar to the solid red, beige and blue colors in Obama’s ‘hope’ poster that galvanised the Democratic campaign in 2008.The portrait, which one art critic called “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’ was eventually acquired by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery.
Fairey later expressed disappointment with Obama in 2015 towards the end of his presidency and did not make any portrait of Hillary Clinton in 2016 (saying he did not find her inspiring) or of Joe Biden in 2020. But he seems taken in by the Harris-Walz ticket.
In an instagram post following the release of the Kamala portrait, he made no secret of his political orientation, saying, “I believe VP Kamala Harris and her VP pick Tim Walz are… our best chance to push back on encroaching fascism and threats to democracy, and our best chance for creating the world we all desire and deserve.”
Fairey also explained that inspiration for the “forward” message came from a line Harris has been using at some of her rallies: “We are not going back.” He said the graphic was based on a photo taken by White House photographer Lawrence Jackson.
The Kamala portrait comes in an election campaign where images and memes are playing a significant role. Trump himself highlighted a Time magazine cover of Kamala Harris, expressing irritation and pique that she looked so good in the pencil drawing, and clumsily comparing her to his wife Melania.
Strangely, the iconic photo of Trump’s bloodied ear and raised fist after surviving an assassination attempt last month is receding rather quickly from public memory, like the episode itself. Whether this is because public memory is even shorter in the electronic age that throws up millions of images every day or because of Trump’s own shambolic campaign is hard to say, but the Kamala Harris campaign is clearly doing a better job of image-building currently.
In fact, language mavens, body language experts, and style gurus are waxing eloquent about the positive and youthful vibes coming from Kamala Harris, who is nearing 60 (on October 20), compared to Donald Trump, who they say comes across as a surly old man.
Shepard Fairey‘s stylized stencil portrait shows a radiant Kamala Harris in black, white, blue, and red colors, similar to the solid red, beige and blue colors in Obama’s ‘hope’ poster that galvanised the Democratic campaign in 2008.The portrait, which one art critic called “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’ was eventually acquired by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery.
Fairey later expressed disappointment with Obama in 2015 towards the end of his presidency and did not make any portrait of Hillary Clinton in 2016 (saying he did not find her inspiring) or of Joe Biden in 2020. But he seems taken in by the Harris-Walz ticket.
In an instagram post following the release of the Kamala portrait, he made no secret of his political orientation, saying, “I believe VP Kamala Harris and her VP pick Tim Walz are… our best chance to push back on encroaching fascism and threats to democracy, and our best chance for creating the world we all desire and deserve.”
Fairey also explained that inspiration for the “forward” message came from a line Harris has been using at some of her rallies: “We are not going back.” He said the graphic was based on a photo taken by White House photographer Lawrence Jackson.
The Kamala portrait comes in an election campaign where images and memes are playing a significant role. Trump himself highlighted a Time magazine cover of Kamala Harris, expressing irritation and pique that she looked so good in the pencil drawing, and clumsily comparing her to his wife Melania.
Strangely, the iconic photo of Trump’s bloodied ear and raised fist after surviving an assassination attempt last month is receding rather quickly from public memory, like the episode itself. Whether this is because public memory is even shorter in the electronic age that throws up millions of images every day or because of Trump’s own shambolic campaign is hard to say, but the Kamala Harris campaign is clearly doing a better job of image-building currently.
In fact, language mavens, body language experts, and style gurus are waxing eloquent about the positive and youthful vibes coming from Kamala Harris, who is nearing 60 (on October 20), compared to Donald Trump, who they say comes across as a surly old man.
Source : Times of India
