Visions of Obama in America’s GhettosPosted in Articles, Arts, Barack Obama, Media Archive, United States on 2016-02-24 03:53Z by Steven |
Visions of Obama in America’s Ghettos
The Nation
2016-02-12
 “Obama es el Presidente, Obama es para todos.” Painting by Chuy Vasquez. Luis Meat Market, 42nd Place at South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, 2013. (Camilo Vergara) |
From churches to gas stations.
Documenting the murals that decorate the walls of barbershops, restaurants, butcher shops, storefront churches and liquor stores in poor, minority communities has been a decades-long interest of mine. These examples of popular art employ a relatively small range of symbols, motifs, and iconic figures to remind people of their roots and aspirations. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, I knew that his likeness would soon be featured in ghettos across the nation, and so I searched inner-city neighborhoods for his portraits and interviewed artists and neighborhood residents…
In African-American neighborhoods, President Obama is frequently depicted as a powerful man of action. Folk portraits of him express pride that a black person was able to achieve the presidency, something few believed possible. He is often accompanied by such symbols of American power as the eagle and the American flag…
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