A Freer, Cleaner, Safer World is Pleaded for in Clever New Entries to Protest Posters 2

Using themes of nature and beauty, designer Marlena Buczek Smith created a poster advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons for the Protest Posters 2 Competition. Using similar themes, though these themes cater more towards the tragic beauty of the devastation that climate change is having on the natural world, designer Scott Laserow created a poster to inform us how urgent of a matter climate change truly is. 

Smith’s “Disarmament,” (above, left) cleverly uses a symbol of peace and hope, the dove, and connects it to the bottom end of a nuclear weapon. This is beautifully symbolizing our world’s choice: we can either have peace, or nuclear weapons, it cannot be both. Additionally, the striked through, “Nuclear Weapons,” in the upper right hand corner of the poster guides the audience through the story that she is trying to tell here: we need to disarm our planet. 

Laserow’s “Edén,” (above, right) shows the true tragedy that climate change is having not only on a small scale, but also on our entire planet. Laserow, in a similarly clever move to Smith’s, combined the center of the flower in his poster with a highly recognizable side of our planet, making the wilting flower a symbol of how our planet is urgently in need of assistance to survive. 

In contrast, creative director Dan Reisinger and main contributor Arnaud Ghelfi created posters using political imagery and wordplay to expose the difficulties of women’s rights and the hypocrisies of right-wing politics. 

Reisinger’s “Female Suicide Bombers,” (above, left) uses cleverly placed imagery and intelligent use of symbolism to discuss women’s rights. The poster is depicting a woman’s pubic hair made up of unlit matches, the poster reading, “…AND OTHER REASONS FOR FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS.” The message that Reisinger was trying to relay to his audience was that without reproductive rights, women can be seen as merely a match away from a bomb. 

Ghelfi’s “RIPublican,” (above, right) uses smart wordplay and important symbolism to show the “death,” of the republican political party. The poster, firstly, has a bright red background, the political party’s commonly known color. Additionally, towards the bottom of the poster, there is an elephant laying dead on the ground, another prominent symbol of the republican party. Ghelfi goes on to list descriptors of the party, leading to where the elephant is lying with the word, “RIPublican.”

Make sure you get your poster designs in! Submissions close on OCTOBER 27, 2020!!