by Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier
Los Angeles-based street artist and activist Shepard Fairey knows what a single image can do. In 2008, his “Hope” poster became a visual shorthand for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign. The image represented the “hope and change” optimism folks felt due to the candidacy of the nation’s eventual first Black president. And Fairey’s iconic poster, which ended up being adopted by the 2008 Obama campaign as an official image, was everywhere: framed and hanging in people’s homes, turned into stickers and slapped on car bumpers, and worn on T-shirts nationwide.
Now the artist is back with a new creation inspired by the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, one that captures the vibe and energy of both Harris and her supporters.
The artist released a new Kamala Harris poster, titled “Forward,” on Thursday night in support of Harris’s bid for the presidency. The colors and style are similar to the Obama “Hope” poster. But in 2024, the message is different. Where “Hope” was about possibility, “Forward” is about necessity.
We Are Not Going Back
Harris’ promise of “We are not going back,” which she first said in a July 30 speech in Atlanta — and has become a crowd chant at her subsequent campaign stops — provided inspiration to Fairey.
“These words from Kamala Harris summarize the moment we are in, and in order not to go back, we must go FORWARD!,” Fairey wrote on his website. “While we have not achieved all the goals we might be seeking, we are making progress — all in the face of expanding threats and regressive political adversaries.”
Electing Kamala Harris to the presidency gives America “a very real opportunity to move forward,” Fairey wrote. “If we act we can move forward our desire for a healthy planet, for corporate accountability, toward equality and away from racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia, for equitable access to opportunity, for full access to the medical care we want or need, for fair and just immigration policies.”
In other words, the poster is an artistic reminder that the 2024 presidential election isn’t just about choosing between candidates but setting a course for the country’s future. To that end, in a practical nod to ensuring folks are ready to show up to the polls Fairey dropped a link for checking voter registration status in his post.
He also made the poster available to be downloaded for free and wrote that he hasn’t been paid to create it and will not earn any income from it. He simply believes, as he wrote, that Harris and her vice-presidential 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.”