There is definitely an aesthetic for patriotic art and design. Tried and true motifs such as color patterns, symbols and iconography emblematic of local or national politics and identity are a dime a dozen among the buttons, stickers, t-shirts and other campaign related materials that are widely disseminated to influence public opinion and engagement.
And then there is Hudson Rowan’s design for Ulster County, New York’s “I Voted” stickers. Rowan, a high school freshman, manifested such an unconventional design, yet its essence clearly struck a chord with a majority of the county’s residents who voted to make it the winning entry of a crowdsourced contest asking the public to create original designs that would encourage voting. Compared to the many conventional designs featuring red, white and blue color palettes and images of the Capital building and bald eagles, Rowan’s entry resembles something that could have been utilized during the fictional presidential campaign for The Simpsons’ resident alien invaders, Kang and Kodos (See: “Treehouse of Horror VII“).
Despite its unusual and absurd design of a humanoid head with bloodshot eyes and rainbow hair and teeth upon the body of a crustacean or arachnid; Rowan’s drawing symbolizes the chaos and vitriol of the contemporary electoral experience. The traditional motifs that signify balance, order and pride no longer feel adequate or faithful in regard to the ongoing attacks on election integrity and radicalization of institutions like the United States Supreme Court. Ashley Dittus, commissioner of the Ulster County Board of Elections is spot on with her analysis of the sticker design. She explains that, “It hits a nerve. It makes people on both sides of the aisle feel like, yep, this is what voting is like…This is what participating in our democracy looks like in 2022” (quoted in Mehta and Kenin, 2022).
While Rowan’s voting monster can be left open to interpretation, the aforementioned issues clearly influenced his fantastical composition. Rowan also sheds light on the impetus behind his creation, stating that it is a meditation on the aforementioned disorder, “I feel like that picture kind of represents it … the whole COVID thing, and then wars going on, and then gun violence and politics” (quoted in Mehta and Kenin, 2022).
Rowan’s artful design joins a lineage of artist’s responses and engagement with political themes and popular culture. While prior artworks like Shepard Fairy’s controversial Hope poster for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and Andy Warhol’s 1972 screen print, Vote McGovern have clear partisan intent, Rowan’s imagery is more open-ended. While it alludes to systemic problems and conditions that affect us on both a macro and intimate level, there is no clear feeling of partisanship or bias. However, it does implore us to think critically and consider the consequences that both voting and not voting has on our lives and the lives of others. Rowan acknowledges the importance of being informed about the electoral process and participating in local and national elections: “Everyone needs to vote…And if people would just stop voting, thinking their vote doesn’t matter … then yeah, that’s bad” (quoted in Mehta and Kenin, 2022).
In his artwork, Rowan has playfully composed a serious message to call us to action: voting is one key element of our participatory democracy. With equitable elections, including voter reform and non-discriminatory voter registration, we can preserve and expand our most basic right in the democratic process. However, with the recent and ongoing attacks on election integrity and the continuum of discriminatory voting policies (see: Warren, 2021) we are at serious risk of eroding and completely losing the already tenuous structures that ensure and uphold our basic human rights.
Another way of looking at Rowan’s image, is that we can either create or prevent monsters and monstrous outcomes by casting our ballots. Electing individuals who blatantly disregard the systemic problems that exclude and block out people from the democratic process is the antithesis of what we should be standing for as a nation. We cannot truly be free (or claim to support freedom) when there are large populations of individuals who have lost and are at risk of losing their inalienable rights (i.e. body autonomy) as a direct outcome of electing the aforementioned malicious governing officials.
The impact that these politicians have on eroding faith in all of our preexisting social, cultural, intellectual and political systems was on blatant display throughout the Trump presidency. For four long years, his administration (along with his enablers in Congress and the Supreme Court) attempted to strip down vital public frameworks like education by falsely blaming teachers for indoctrinating and grooming students. The tactics they used felt like they came straight out of the playbook of a tin-pot dictatorship: threatening censorship of subjects in the curriculum (see: Artfully Remembering and Thomas, 2022) and upholding or promoting bigotry and religious/political bias in schools (see: Belsha, 2022). Pedagogical methodologies such as Social Emotional Learning (SEL) have been wrongfully accused of promoting Critical Race Theory (CRT), which in and of itself is also misconstrued among woefully misguided “critics” of public education (see: Lampen, 2022 and Lessons in Critical Race Theory From the Arts). Scrutinizing records from past and recent history is a necessary part of understanding a more replete version of humanity.
Make no mistake, although these politicians and institutions espouse ignorant and false information, it is all part of a calculated and informed strategy to retain control. They understand that installing fear and ignorance among the populace is a tangible way for them to continue upholding and expanding their ideological beliefs across society. The poignant words of the late Filipino politician Miriam Defensor-Santiago reveal this to be self-evident: “I have realized why corrupt politicians do nothing to improve the quality of public school education. They are terrified of educated voters.”
Being informed and engaged in political and socially conscious efforts is something that can be facilitated through art. As with being an informed voter, being a conscious art viewer is important in order to suss out propaganda and disinformation. It is inevitable that there will be certain biases expressed within works of art addressing politics or political policies. After all, art is an expression of an individual or collective and it often manifests through personal ideologies. However, good artists are effective in reaching large and diverse audiences if their visions are supported by various signs, symbols and imagery that reflect and elicit critical discourse and understandings of the issues that have an effect on all of us, despite our political affiliations. I think we can all agree that we are collectively entering a scary and ominous moment in history. Art like Hudson Rowan’s interpretation of the “I Voted” sticker, is a stark reminder of our troubles, as well as a means for progressive and pragmatic dialogue and action that will hopefully lead to an informed and empathetic electorate. As evident from the design’s popularity and reach, it has already begun to prompt musings on politics and its impact on social, cultural, and intellectual topics.
Come next electoral cycle, will we be wearing Rowan’s sticker as a badge of honor and pride or as a mark of chaos and shame?
References, Notes, Suggested Reading:
Belsha, Kalyn. “‘Am I not allowed to mention myself?’ Schools grapple with new restrictions on teaching about gender and sexuality,” Chalkbeat, 12 April 2022. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/4/12/23022356/teaching-restrictions-gender-identity-sexual-orientation-lgbtq-issues-health-education
Lampen, Claire. “What Is the Conservative Beef With ‘Social -Emotional Learning’?” The Cut, 19 April 2022. https://www.thecut.com/2022/04/conservative-backlash-social-emotional-learning.html
Mehta, Jonaki and Kenin, Justine, “A teenager’s ‘I Voted’ sticker design hits a nerve, and now everyone wants one,” NPR, 30 July 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/30/1114461473/politics-election-i-voted-sticker-teenager-competition
Solway, Diane. “The Art of Politics: What Happens When 15 Artists Take On the Campaign Poster,” W Magazine, 27 October 2016. https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/the-art-of-politics-what-happens-when-15-artists-take-on-the-campaign-poster
Thomas, P.L. “Resignation,” Academic Freedom Isn’t Free, 13 May 2022. https://radicalscholarship.com/2022/05/13/resignation/
Warren, LaShawn. “Voting discrimination is getting worse, not better,” SCOTUSblog, 18 February 2021. https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/02/voting-discrimination-is-getting-worse-not-better/
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