Intervention Poster

Photo taken at the park.

Photo taken beside a building.

I chose to make my protest poster about the topic of illegal immigration. It’s a very important topic to me and has an impact on my life as well as close friends. When people think of illegal immigration the first group that comes to mind are Hispanics and Latinos. It’s due to this that many people constantly harass Hispanic and Latinos by calling them “illegals” and telling them to go back to their own country. However, people constantly fail to realize that illegal immigration is something that started way before Hispanics. People seem to forget that Christopher Columbus is the king of illegal immigration by coming over and “discovering” America resulting in the tragedies done to the Native American people. With this poster I hope that it creates a conversation about illegal immigration and the way people view Hispanic and Latino people because of these harmful stereotypes against us. I think signs for protests are extremely important because those help get the message across. I feel that if someone were to read just the right sign at a protest or any sort of movement, they could get inspired by the words that are written down. So many signs are cleverly written that help people who may not understand the movement finally understand and they could possibly try to join in as well. I’m proud of the poster that I made and I hope that I was truly able to spark a conversation between people who have strong opinions about this topic and hopefully change the perspective of others.

I think that the quotes from John Bergers’ “Ways of Seeing” greatly captures the idea as to why publicity for protest art is something important. The first quote is, “Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy” (pg. 11). This quote connects to our assignment because protesting can cause people to consume what message is attempting to say and reach the people. Especially with social media being so influential toward people, it’s a big influence when it comes to big consumers. The second quote is, “Publicity exerts an enormous influence and is a political phenomenon of great importance” (pg: 13). I feel that this quote perfectly summarizes as to why protesting is so important. With great publicity for a movement or a protest of any kind, people can feel influenced to join in and fight for the cause. If enough people join in, great change can be made.