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Election 2020

Our Finest Artists Reimagine the Political Poster

Kara Walker, Glenn Ligon, Nick Cave, and more give us the election art we need

Adrienne Gibbs
Momentum
Published in
4 min readOct 30, 2020

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Images courtesy of W Magazine

Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, and Nick Cave are amongst the 18 modern artists — all people of color — who reimagined the political poster for a new W Magazine feature.

Cave, a Chicago-based artist and professor at the Art Institute of Chicago who is known for his spectacular Sound Suits, says now is the time.

“Political posters have always been a way to share points of view or contention,” Cave tells Momentum. “They are powerful because they can infiltrate the mainstream being part art, part design, and 100% human. I made this poster for W as a collaboration, to allow my art to be augmented by my partner Bob Faust’s design. This way each of our talents could amplify the message.”

What happens when you mix the finest modern artists of modern time with politics? You get a new vision for a political poster.

The art ranges from Cave’s gorgeous renditions of flowers surrounding a Black hand pointing to the words “Vote in their names” to Walker’s visceral imagery of the naked body. The energy of each piece says to Vote. And many directly reference modern social justice…

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Momentum
Momentum

Published in Momentum

Momentum is a blog that captures and reflects the moment we find ourselves in, one where rampant anti-Black racism is leading to violence, trauma, protest, reflection, sorrow, and more. Momentum doesn’t look away when the news cycle shifts.

Adrienne Gibbs
Adrienne Gibbs

Written by Adrienne Gibbs

@adriennewrites on all socials Dir of Content @Medium. Award-winning writer. Featured by Beyoncé. Priors: EBONY, Netflix, Sun-Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe

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