On November 5, millions of voters in the United States will go to the polls to cast their votes for the country’s next president. The election is a close race between former President Donald Trump, who was indICT for the fourth time in May and whose rallies are an echo chamber of racist comments and false conspiracy theories, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who took over leadership of the Democratic party when current President Joe Biden ended his re-election bid and whose support for Israel and fracking has drawn scrutiny from Arab-American and progressive voters. Hundreds of state, county and local election races will also take place tomorrow.
To encourage voter participation, artists use their skills and talents to remind people of the importance of exercising their democratic rights – from a reprint of ACT UP’s historic 1988 election poster to new artworks by contemporary figures like Shepard Fairey and Caris Reid .
Los Angeles-based painter Caris Reid painted a floral representation of the word “vote” for a campaign organized by Art for Change and Michelle Obama’s organization When We All Vote.
“This is a crucial election year, with LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights and climate change issues all on the agenda,” Reid said. Hyperallergicadding that she incorporated “whimsical and ethereal aesthetic” elements typically found in her work.
Shepard Fairey and Carrie Mae Weems are co-chairs of Artists for Democracya campaign organized by People for the American way (PFAW), founded by the late television writer and activist Norman Lear. Fairey’s Call to Vote, featuring Lear in his signature fedora, retails for $450; the proceeds benefit voter turnout efforts.
In addition to a portrait of Harris by Los Angeles-based visual artist Victoria Cassinova and a signed print by Hank Willis Thomas, Weems contributed a decorative sign with the inscription: “Not Again. Not on my watch!!”
Last week, Weems gave Harris’ campaign permission to use four photos from 1990 Kitchen table series in a political ad campaign called “Kamala’s Table.”
Beverly McIver’s ‘VOTE Black Beauty’ (2024), also created for PFAW’s Artists for Democracy campaign, which centers on a black woman covered in floral elements, swaps the ‘T’ in ‘VOTE’ with an anatomical illustration of a uterus in a reference to the reproductive rights and healthcare protections currently at stake this year post-Roe v. Wade election.
“I firmly believe in the essential pursuit of equality for all, regardless of race, creed or gender,” McIver said in a speech. statement about work. “My sincere hope is that this [Artists for Democracy] campaign serves as a powerful call to action and motivates everyone to participate in the democratic process by casting their vote.”
An AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) poster, issued prior to the 1988 election between Republican Vice President George HW Bush and Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and reposted this morning by the NYC AIDS Memorial, was part of the historic “Silence = Death” campaign, which challenged activists to go to the polls for reasons related to health care protection, AIDS treatment research, and queer civil rights.
The group’s signature pink triangle is set against the backdrop of a banner with stars and a small print print at the bottom that reads: “Your voice is a weapon. . . use it. . . we are at war.”
