I chose the poster by the artist Barbara Kruger rose. The art is titled “Your body is a battleground,”. This art was made in 1989. Kruger’s art, which has appeared on billboards, bus cards, posters, and railway station platforms, as well as in parks and other public areas, is infused with a strong sense of social involvement. “Your body is a battleground” emphasizes how the fight for freedom of choice differs from political conflicts. Mostly the battleground which is our body gets the results rather than how society perceives it. So when women are being told to do stuff with their body, for example, abortions, people have their own opinions but the real fact is that no matter what happens, people are not ones experiencing the results but rather the women going through it.

Yuko Shimizu is a Japanese illustrator who works out of New York city. Her work is a combination of Japanese heritage and contemporary reference. She grew up both here in the US and in Japan. She also has two college degrees, one in both countries.  

She has worked as an illustrator for many prominent companies including The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, GQ, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, MTV, Target, National Public Radio, Time, The New York Times, And The Library of congress. Also, in 2018 she won the Hamilton King award. Now She teaches Illustration at The school of visual arts.

“Explore safely” was created in 2008 to ‘better educate teenage girls in Europe about safe sex and AIDS prevention”(paperink). I think this work speaks to me so much because at first glance you could completely miss how provocative it is, only once you’ve taken a closer look at it do you see how provocative it is. I also really enjoy the look of the poster, even though the main focus is right in the middle there is still enough going on in the background to keep it very visually interesting.  

If you would like to see more of her work you can look at her web site https://yukoart.com/

Boris Aleksandrovich Alexandrov (1905-1994) was a Soviet-era composer, artist, and Major-General in the Soviet military. During the second world war, Aleksandrovich broadcasted Russian folk songs to soldiers on the frontlines, and in a similar way, provided patriotic media in the form of propaganda posters part of a larger art movement called “Socialist Realism”, an art style typically used for the purposes of propaganda and spreading patriotism, prevalent in the Soviet Union and other communist or socialist countries in the mid to late 20th century.

Socialist Realism was especially employed in WWII for these purposes, a period where propaganda art was nearly universally seen across every major nation regardless of their position in the war, intended to bolster the industrial workforce as well as the fighting forces of all countries. The Soviet Union in particular enjoyed this boom of propaganda art, and Socialist Realism can be seen all the way up until the collapse of the USSR. Its style is best defined as bold, idealistic, and simple to digest, often being very literal and hiding shallow deeper meaning. In this sense, they were a highly efficient utilization of graphic design to spread messages to the masses, ensuring their call to action could be easily understood while still representing the ideals of the USSR and attempting to inspire its people.

In 1958, Aleksandrovich was granted the title of “People’s Artist of the USSR” to commemorate both his visual and performing arts.

More information on Aleksandrovich is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Alexandrovich_Alexandrov

Ayannah Newton

The film “13th” by filmmaker Ava DuVernay was release on Netflix in October of 2016. “13th” is one of many on Netflix that bring awareness to racial inequality in the U.S. It specifically focuses on disproportionate rates at which African Americans are convicted in the States. The purpose of the film was to bring awareness to the affects that the 13th Amendment, as well as the Jim Crow laws and segregation have of on today’s conviction rates. Most people are aware that the 13th Amendment abolished slavery. However, it states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist.” The exception basically means that forced labor, which is what slavery was, is justified as long as the person doing labor is a convicted criminal. Most schools in the U.S. don’t teach that part of it. The film presents the issue of the exception within the 13th Amendment serving as a loophole for continued domination over the black community, as well as other people of color, in this country.

“NOW MORE THAN EVER

SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER HAS NEVER BEEN MORE VITAL THAN IT IS IN THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY. WATCH AVA DuVERNAY’S 13TH, AND THEN TAKE ACTION.”

The poster above is one of many created by Netflix to bring awareness to the film and the issues presented within it as a form of protest. Netflix created a website solely dedicated to giving viewers free access to download posters like the one above. The website also provides other graphics (png’s) available for download which allows the audience to create their own posters.

Visit for more “13th” posters:

https://beyond13th.com/

Erin Wright got his Master of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Graphic Design and Illustration at the University of Arizona and his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design at Colorado State University. As a Graphic Designer he has participated in over 90 international exhibitions in 22 different countries. He has been honored multiple times, to name a few, he got a Honorable Mention at the second and third International Socio-Political Poster Biennale in Auschwitz, Poland; Silver Award for a poster that was in the Social/Political Posters book produced by Graphis; and Designer of the Year along with Illustrator of the Year at the Birmingham ADDY Awards. His work is part of many collections such as Robert Irwin archive at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles; Fourth Block International Triennial of Eco Posters in Kharkov, Ukraine; and The International Poster Collection at Colorado State University. Wright is also the co-founder of Posters Without Borders, a biennial international invitational poster exhibition.

For his work, Death Is Not Justice, he created the poster for Tomorrow exhibition advocating for the abolishment of capital punishment. Wright believes there are many reasons to oppose the death penalty but he believes that a civil society doesn’t have the right to decide whether or not that person dies. He thinks that capital punishment is the death of justice. I like this poster because it reminds me of a tarot card which is what got my attention.

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As an artist who strives to uncover specific problems or thoughts in our personal lives, Candy Chang’s work is considered to “make cities more comfortable for people”. She is well-known for her ideas that leave the viewers with a thought of what their end goal in life is. This piece is named “Before I Die”, which has been featured in the film known as project almanac. Chang art comes to life when the public/community has the ability to interact with her work. “Before I Die” Is not the only work of Chang’s that allows the public to be interactive. Not only is her work “Before I Die” well-known, it has been recreated in over 60 countries with a variety of languages worldwide, giving many the experience.

visit Candy Chang’s website to view more of her work: http://candychang.com

Fukuda was commissioned to make posters for Earth Day. This piece with three other pieces were made, but this one is the most popular design. This piece was named “1982 Happy Earth Day”.

Shigeo Fukuda was a celebrated sculptor, poster designer and graphic artist of the twentieth century. Fukuda was born to a toy manufacturing family on February 14, 1932 in Tokyo, Japan. Fukuda expressed interest the minimalist swiss style of graphic design. This occurred at the end of the Second World War. He got his education in designing at the National University of Fine Arts and Music. He graduated in 1956. His work was first recognized and gained attention at a Czechoslovakian graphic design competition. His interest in illusionism started in the 1960’s. He wrote a column on visual magic for a Japanese newspaper. HIs column was named “Have you see The Dragon?” and there he would make bi-monthly features on illusionism. Fukuda made many pieces around his advocacy for pacifism and environmentalism. He cared more about the social impact than the commercialism of his pieces. He died of a heart attack in 2009.

You can find more information on Shigeo Fukuda on these websites:

http://www.designishistory.com/1960/shigeo-fukuda/

Shigeo Fukuda

Sun Mad by Ester Hernandez is a screeprint created in 1982. It stands to bring awareness to water contamination by pesticides and how it effects the environement, the farm workers, and those who consume. Hernandez created this image out of her anger of the loss of humans and environment of using pesticides within growing grapes in California.

Ester Hernandez is a visual artists known for her art work of latina and native women. Her work includes social, political, ecological and spirtual themes. Hernandez is considered to be an important figure within the Chicano civil rights movement of American in the 1960s.

Visit Ester Hernandez’s website

Kyösti Varis started his career by getting basic training in some printing houses in Finland and Germany. This is what originally fueled the spark to a successful career. Over time, Varis has gained a ton of traction and received countless awards, one being The Graphic Designer Of The Year in 2002.

“Your Lifemeter” represents the effects of cigarettes on your health the more you smoke them. The clever simple design sends a moving message to all that encounter. The numbers counting down by tens on the cigarette display the years disintergrating off of your life the more puffs taken. The combination of the bold title, black background, and simplistic design makes for a straight forward, in your face poster. During this time period cigarettes were more accepted than they are today, and to some the effects were unclear. This message put this life threatening addiction/hobby into perspective for the world to see.

Hilppa Hyrkäs is an Art Director from Finland. She designed this poster about climate change in 2006 and named it “Stop Climate Change.”

She thought mostly about what climate change is and how it affects the environment, the weather, health, and economy. When piecing together this poster, she took these ideas to create a simple yet effective piece. Polar bears are highly effected by climate change, as their entire environment is ruined if it isn’t cold enough for them to live. The melting of the ice caused by climate change has led Hyrkäs to take an image shaped like a polar bear to represent the ice, and have it breaking into pieces, just like the large sheets of ice are breaking.

Here you can find more of her artwork: https://www.behance.net/HILPPAHYRKf1c9