Poster of the Week

Iraq Why?

Cedomir Kostovic

Silkscreen, 1993

Springfield, Missouri

March 2010 marks the seventh anniversary of the ongoing war in Iraq. With its simplicity and power, this poster literally stops viewers in their tracks. It simultaneously asks and answers the question, “Iraq, Why?”. Many are surprised to learn that it was produced after the first Gulf War, and not to protest the ongoing second war against Iraq. Unfortunately, both the question and the answer remain the same.

Poster(s) of the Week

Bruce Gilbert
“iRaq”
2004, silkscreen

“The iRaq poster project was created to remind the public that we are at war. A friend and I created the posters anonymously as Forkscrew Graphics, a Los Angeles design group committed to social awareness projects. We simply used the language and iconography of an incredibly visible campaign (Apple’s iPod) to help stimulate dialogue surrounding an important and complicated issue: What is the U.S. doing in Iraq, and what does it mean to us and the rest of the world? We were sold a war that promised to secure freedom to us and to others by delivering democracy to the people of Iraq, and it’s become increasingly clear that it’s done neither. Ultimately the desired effect of the project is to shift the focus from products to people, from consumers to concerned citizens. We want to show that no matter how manipulated the mediasphere becomes, and no matter how many tons of messages the marketing world dumps on the public, there are ways to take the symbols and tools of marketing and use them to disrupt the barrage of commercial communications.”

Artwork © 2004 and 2007 Forkscrew Graphics
Inset photo © Forkscrew Graphics
www.forkscrew.com