Mr. Kohn wanted the art students to practice free speech while they are studying in the United States at Southwestern Academy. Practicing free speech to some of our students is a new concept. For other students who live in the United States they practice free speech on a daily basis and with social media and they might take their free speech right for granted. Each student chose a topic they were passionate about and possibly had some knowledge about. The intention of the project was to bring awareness to topics that the students are concerned about and to be heard. I wanted the students to feel like they have the power to promote change in the world no matter how big or small the problem may seem. Some students decided to use their own language to communicate their message while others used English.
Some of the topics included, Global Warming, Racism, Sexual Harassment, Water and Air Pollution, Bullying, War, Free Speech, Misogyny, Asian Hate, Gun Violence, Bad Parenting, Animal Protection, Sexual Violence, Feminism and unfair Covid lockdowns in China. The students were limited to using poster board, spray paint and acrylic paint and stenciling for the letters to create an authentic handmade protest poster which could possibly be seen during a street protest anywhere in the world.
“No War, No Blood” by Eddie Feng
I chose “War” as my topic to protest against because I’m worried about the world. I chose “No War, No Blood” for the title because it is direct and simple. War should never be the answer to solve our world's problems. I created a cement beat up background to show the effects of war. The titles are made using bright red spray paint to stand out from the background and to represent blood. I decided to create the earth with blue to represent the ocean and the surface probably looks mostly the same from a distance. I decided to use red for blood for the land because man lives on the land and has created wars and has created bloodshed since the beginning of humankind. I tried to use this project to create awareness of the devastation of war around the world and to promote peace, love, and understanding.
“Protect Our Future” by Jennifer Zhang
I chose global warming as my subject for my protest poster because I’m extremely worried about our earth becoming too warm. Not only for humans but for all species of plants and animals that rely on the earth to keep them alive and healthy. I originally created the background to resemble the earth. As it turns out the background looks like the blue sky with green clouds which is very scary to me. I tried to keep my message short and direct to my audience with a bold white font that stands out from the background. The “O” in “protect'' is meant to be our earth on fire. The main red image in the center is the symbol for fire in Chinese. I wanted the fire symbol to pop out from the background by using contrasting colors. I wanted it to resemble an arsonist because I believe that Global Warming has been created by human beings. We have reached our awakening. I’m calling out to all humans to help “Protect Our Future.”
