WHY?
Dublin Core
Title
WHY?
Subject
Kent State
Description
This piece, made through a silkscreen process, is titled “Why?” while it has an officer holding a dead little boy and the question is in fact why? Why are innocent people losing their lives over something they took no part in? These men are supposed to serve and protect, make the community feel safe and trust was definitely broken when they shot into a crowd of people. John Fitzgerald O’Hara
from the American Studies Association/Kent State, May 4 and Postwar Memory says “The shootings fanned the flames of war dissent and called into question the integrity of of government leadership”. It is a tragic incident but it is also a sensitive topic that needed to be tackled and bring awareness to others.
This poster comes from a greater collection of anti-war posters by the Columbia College Collective from the 1970s. This poster is simple but captivating and is an emotionally moving representation of the pain that comes with war, specifically the war in Vietnam and war in Cambodia. The poster exhibits a soldier carrying the body of an injured child with the text ‘why?’ in bold lowercase writing. In a Tate online blog article titled, “The Art of Protest,” Nina Power reveals that there is no specific way that artists should respond to social and political upheaval and “art that engages in questions of state violence, of the propagandistic use of war imagery, of global asymmetries, of struggles for national liberation and civil rights, serves to remind audiences everywhere that to stand back from politics, to disengage in social questions, is a possibility far rarer than it might sometimes seem.” Whether it is a huge elaborate protest art installation or even just a silkscreened printed poster like this one, protest art is one of the most effective ways to create change. The poster creates a feeling of fear within the viewer, and puts the viewer in the position of the child or the child’s family. This impactful image conveys fear and sorrow and has the power to change the way people view war.
from the American Studies Association/Kent State, May 4 and Postwar Memory says “The shootings fanned the flames of war dissent and called into question the integrity of of government leadership”. It is a tragic incident but it is also a sensitive topic that needed to be tackled and bring awareness to others.
This poster comes from a greater collection of anti-war posters by the Columbia College Collective from the 1970s. This poster is simple but captivating and is an emotionally moving representation of the pain that comes with war, specifically the war in Vietnam and war in Cambodia. The poster exhibits a soldier carrying the body of an injured child with the text ‘why?’ in bold lowercase writing. In a Tate online blog article titled, “The Art of Protest,” Nina Power reveals that there is no specific way that artists should respond to social and political upheaval and “art that engages in questions of state violence, of the propagandistic use of war imagery, of global asymmetries, of struggles for national liberation and civil rights, serves to remind audiences everywhere that to stand back from politics, to disengage in social questions, is a possibility far rarer than it might sometimes seem.” Whether it is a huge elaborate protest art installation or even just a silkscreened printed poster like this one, protest art is one of the most effective ways to create change. The poster creates a feeling of fear within the viewer, and puts the viewer in the position of the child or the child’s family. This impactful image conveys fear and sorrow and has the power to change the way people view war.
Creator
Columbia College Chicago Students
Source
Kent State, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago
Publisher
College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago.
Date
[no text]
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
“The oral histories are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. “ All rights remain with the creators.
Relation
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Format
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Language
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Type
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Identifier
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Coverage
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Files
Collection
Citation
Columbia College Chicago Students, “WHY?,” Protest Art, accessed May 14, 2024, https://protest.omeka.net/items/show/41.