These radical posters show what makes America great right now
Throughout the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency, 100 artists are coming together to illustrate the things that already make America great.
The "What Makes America Great" project, a pointed reference to President Donald Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again," was launched on Inauguration Day by the Creative Action Network -- a global community of artists making "art with purpose."
"America is great," the project website says. "The things that make it great are unique to each and every one of us, and deserve to be celebrated."
Creative Action Network founder and CEO Max Slavkin says the series was inspired by a widespread interest in creating art to challenge the current political climate.
"There's so much anxiety and fear out there, and yet America is still a great country with so much to celebrate."
"After Election Day this past November, our community reached out in a big way -- wanting to take action and wanting to harness their talents for good in the political moment," Slavkin tells Mashable.
"What Makes America Great" gives these artists an outlet, so they can express what they value about the U.S. right now.
"We saw a hole in the national discourse for art to fill," Slavkin says. "What actually does make America great? What do we need to be greater? How will we know if and when we are 'great again'? How can we lift up the things that make us great without putting people down? So we decided to launch this campaign."
While the Creative Action Network will feature one poster per day on its dedicated project website, several prints are already for sale.
A portion of the proceeds from the $25 poster prints will be donated to the social justice nonprofit Dream Corps, founded by author and political commentator Van Jones. The organization advances economic, environmental and criminal justice solutions.
"Their work will be more important than ever over the next four years, and we want to support it," Slavkin says.
The posters so far touch on several issues and topics, including religious freedom, immigration, energy solutions, plurality -- and even bourbon.
Artist Juana Medina, who created the poster "Plurality Makes America Great" for the series, says she was inspired by her own experiences as an immigrant.
"Finding value in diversity and inclusivity drives this nation forward," she said in a statement. "Plurality of this kind makes America great."
Most of the artists in the series, like Medina, were selected from the Creative Action Network community, but "What Makes America Great" is also open to artist submissions to help fill the 100 slots with diverse ideas, styles and perspectives.
Slavkin says he hopes the project adds to the national dialogue in a substantial way, encouraging people to see the positives of the U.S. during a time of heightened negative emotion.
"There’s so much anxiety and fear out there, and yet America is still a great country with so much to celebrate," he says.
"As we all enter this next phase of our democracy, we hope this campaign can help celebrate what we want to see more of in the world -- and inspire action."
Topics Activism Social Good Donald Trump
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
