Last week I wrote about how recyclable, hateful, divisive and derisive language has long been a nasty part of American political discourse—but to borrow the hyperbole of candidate Trump, never before in history was so much spewed than at his recent beautiful Madison Square Garden rally.
Fittingly, a group of artists sought to memorialize the end of this bilious presidential campaign cycle. This past weekend, the Australian studio Bear Meets Eagle On Fire helped take the trash out in New York. Here is their justification:
The creative studio Bear Meets Eagle On Fire has partnered with independent artists in the New York City area on an anti-Trump design protest project. The result is a series of orange “DUMP TRUMP” garbage bags emblazoned with the contentious political figure’s face. The swollen orange bags, strewn across the city streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn just days before the election, are a visceral metaphor for a candidate who’s run one of the most divisive and contentious campaigns for president in U.S. history. “The most consequential presidential election in our lifetime is taking place in the U.S. this week; we just felt even a minor satirical statement was worth making,” said Micah Walker, founder of Bear Meets Eagle On Fire.
In a sign of the ever-increasing political temperature in the U.S., Bear’s creative and production partners in the U.S.—designers, printers, photographers and even the volunteers who helped place the bags across the city—have asked to remain anonymous around their involvement in the project. “It just gives you an indication of how fearful so many people are of a second Trump presidency,” Walker added. “I hope after next week it’s something none of us have to worry about ever again.”
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