Passionate and Heartfelt: Protest Poster 2 Entries Tha Evoke Emotion

In a week where taking a stand is so prominent in U.S. history, Graphis is showcasing powerful posters messages from our Protest Poster 2 contest entries. These posters deliver immense feelings of passion and strength and will continue to evoke these emotions in viewers long after they stop looking at them.

“Drive Out Facism” (above, left) was created by Tom Farrell and Deklah Polansky for studio’farrell (U.S.). The black swastika on the red background is a reminder to never forget what the Nazis did, to never let another Holocaust occur again, or to never let down your guard when it comes to standing up for what’s right. We’re all meant to be treated equally, and that’s exactly what this poster suggests. 

Paco Macías Velasco (Mexico) developed “Don’t Kill Me” (above, right) as a warning against distracted driving. Depicting a skull made out of toy vehicles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, and buses, the use of toys is meant to help synthesize the strength of the message at the scale of vehicles as if they were life-size. The message is addressed to all drivers from the perspective of pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, motorists, and truck or bus drivers; death is at the wheel of any motor vehicle if not driven with full attention on the road with full awareness of the criminal and civil liabilities involved. Velasco hopes that public or private organizations would use this poster to help reduce the high numbers of deaths and permanent injuries that occur as a result of distracted driving.

Naoyuki Fukumoto of Imageon Co., LTD. (Japan) designed “Hiroshima 1945/Fukushima 2011” (above, left) as a reminder of these nuclear disasters and the radiation they caused. Large amounts of radioactivity were spread throughout eastern Japan, but since this radiation is invisible, Fukumoto attempted to visualize the invisible “it”. Based on photos taken in the early 2000s, Fukumoto synthesized multiple pictures and vector materials with the image of the old “blue print”. The poster is a self-produced work, rather than a solution, but it is meant to challenge the viewer to unravel the multiple meanings and reflect on the tragedies of Hiroshima and Fukushima, as well as the state of modern civilization.

Finally, Paul Garbett (Australia) created the simplistic poster “Burning Beds” (above, right). The white background allows the black words to stand out: “How can you sleep while our beds are burning?” Below, in all capital and bold red lettering is the phrase “Climate Action, Now!”. The poster was created for a protest march that occurred at the end of 2019, around the time of the Australian bushfires that destroyed much of the habitat across the continent. The poster calls the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to take more action on climate change. 

The four posters highlighted in today’s post represent just a small batch of entries we’ve received. If you have a poster that screams passion, entries for our Protest Posters 2 contest are being accepted until July 13, 2021.