Protest Posters 2: Terrorism is “Religulous”

Terrorism gets a makeover, crosses fall over, and other posters make their point with these entries to our Protest Posters 2 competition.

Jean-Paul Krammer has given terrorism a face with “Terrorism is Not A Solution” (above, left). Knowing the power of a human face and how terrorists tend to hide theirs, the Mexican poster designer made one out of the symbols of terrorism; the eyes are bullet holes, the mouth is dead bodies, and the rest is shards of broken glass, a metaphor for destruction. Tied together with a bright red color palette, Krammer makes his anger towards such pointless fighting known.

The next poster, designed by Chinese graphic artist Wu Qixin, is anything but ridiculous. Created as a movie poster based off of Larry Charles’ documentary of the same name, “Religulous” (above, right) shows a simple black and white image of the letter x falling down, gradually turning into a cross. Given the documentary is about the ‘ridiculousness’ of religious people, Qixin’s work is a commentary on how easily people fall for beliefs that may not be in line with what faith truly is.

Canadian designer Steven Pacifico reminds us of an important aspect of political awareness with his simple poster, “CONCEDE” (above, left). Using minimal typography against a bright yellow backdrop, Pacifico spells out ‘concede’ with pink and white letters. At the bottom is a short message, telling the viewer it’s time to make a world ‘that embraces respect, dignity, and human rights.’ Given the politically charged year we’ve had, this message and poster couldn’t have come at a better time.

Lastly, we all want 2020 to be over, but perhaps the year hasn’t been a total loss. Hsiao-Wen Hu’s poster project, “2020 Actions Mean Everything,” is a reflection of her observations for the past year. Drawing inspiration from street and protest art, the American artist plays with type and color to show how 2020 finally forced us to act—to wear a mask, to vote, to protest, and to unlearn biases.

Our Protest Posters 2 competition is open until January 5th, 2021. Enter here!