Barack Obama ‘Hope’ artist donates work

Graphic artist Shepard Fairey donates three signed prints to be auctioned at Art the Arms Fair 2019

by Rebecca Hardy 30th August 2019

The graphic artist Shepard Fairey who created the ‘Hope’ poster for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign has donated three signed prints to be auctioned at the 2019 Art the Arms Fair.

The news came as the partly Quaker-initiated collective gears up for its second Art the Arms Fair to raise awareness of what they call ‘the world’s largest arms fair’. Timed to coincide with Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) in London’s Docklands, which protestors say brings together some of the most human rights abusing countries in the world, Art the Arms Fair has lined up work from around seventy artists.

Shepard Fairey said: ‘As an advocate for peace and justice and a strong believer in the role art can play in shaping dominant ideas in society, I’m proud to contribute to a show that shares my values along with a group of outspoken peers.’

The photomontage artist Peter Kennard will also be contributing by taking over an entire gallery, the AMP Gallery in Peckham, from 3-13 September. Other contributors include: Hito Steyerl, the Guerrilla Girls, artists in conflict zones, and Quaker Jill Gibbon, who masquerades as an arms dealer in order to gain entry to arms trade events and draw what she sees.

Peter Kennard said: ‘I’m pleased to show my work as part of the response against this obscene arms fair. Arms companies expand globally, but then so too does the resistance.’

Rhianna Louise, an Art the Arms Fair organiser, said: ‘DSEI has the backing of the UK government and sponsorship from major arms companies. But we are exposing this blood-stained arms fair and raising funds to bring it down; armed with the immense creative power of artists.’

The money raised from Shepard Fairey’s work will go to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

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