Post 1: Oscar Martinez

           The agitprop that caught my attention was a flag announcing a lynching was yesterday. It seems to deliver a strong message and very graphic one. Hung on the streets of NYC where everyone can see it and not only that but to be published and shown as a strike on colored people. A great and powerful way to display what agitprop can do. One of the artist that caught my attention throughout the articles was Yoko Ono’s where her work and exhibits were strongly influenced by aspirations she wants people to achieve and what she stands for. When I researched this woman she had a lot of artwork came up mainly agitprop that had to do with women’s rights and being strong and school children. She is a strong peace enthusiast and her art shows it. She has her own website called imaginepeace.com where to no surprise she displays old and current peaceful marches around the world and his music as well as art displays for everyone to come and see. One of his most recent works of agitprop are the wish trees for peace which is very morbid in my opinion but delivers a strong message. It consists of a tree small fragile and looks to be almost near death covered in little paper notes filled with messages of peace. This exhibit is called YOKO ONO: Wish Trees for Peace and is being displayed at Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, Davis, California. It is one of her most recent works and is currently on display now till March 26,2017. But the art exhibit that was really creepy but cool the Arising- A call exhibit where women send in a testament about harm being done to you about being a women along with a picture of your eyes and then Yoko ono displays it on a wall for everyone to see. This agitprop relates back to an article by Susan Sontag where a picture can mean a whole lot of different things and it depends on the person who is looking at it. When I look at Yoko art wall I didn’t know whether to be scared or amazed and I can imagine to some people this isn’t even art. As Susan Sontag said “Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it.” All these images and art all have a message behind them and that is what agitprop is all about. 

         Another work of art that is almost the same but really isn’t considered agitprop is the work by Joshua Rashaad McFadden he takes the history he grew up with and what he was surrounded by growing up, a life filled with raciest people and believing white was the superior race. He takes pictures and videos and converts them into works of art to show people that blacks and whites are all the same. One particular work of art of his caught my attention but it related very closely to Yoko’s work. Was his project where he would take pictures of beautiful black women scolded and verbally abused growing up for being black and hang them on a fence proudly so everyone could see how beautiful they were and so that they wouldn’t have to be ashamed. Both works of art both Joshua’s and Yoko’s are very similar. Both use the same method of reaching the audience through pictures and the messages are similar was well showing the abuse these people have gone through. The only thing setting them apart is that Yoko’s work is giving off a message not just to one race but to all. While Joshua’s work is only targeting the black population. Both have the same philosophy that while it might just be and image or a work of art to you there is a story behind it. It's meant to be beautiful but ugly at the same time. These people were and maybe are currently being abused and that’s the reason this art came to be.