Rebellious Silence, Shirin Neshat (1994)

            Shirin Neshat is a photographer and a film director who works in the United States. However, her artwork reflects the Islamic society, primarily in Iran, where she was born. Her focus lies on the Islamic culture and tradition, especially on women in Islamic culture (Carnegie Museum of Art , Par 1). Due to her explicit attacks on sexual, political, and religious issues in Iran, she cannot work in her birth nation (Collins, Par 1). She questions the position of women in Islamic culture and the fight between the tradition and the revolution.

            Her works ask questions instead of answering them. In Rebellious Silence,we have a woman, covered in a veil, holding a gun. Her face is covered with writing; the writing on her face makes her seem as if she is wearing a niqāb, not a hijab. Niqāb is one of the more extreme veils women must wear, showing obedience to the male supremacy in Islamic culture. The woman looks as if she’s ready to fight. She looks determined, staring straight at the camera. The origin of the musket is unclear, but its presence implies that she is going to war, ready to fight. Neshat’s works depict women in the Iran-Iraq War, responding to the violent war at that time (Metropolitan Museum of Art, Par 1). Although her works are based on women’s position during the war, her feminist actions also imply that these women are ready to fight for their right in the conservative world of Islam. Although women took part in the Iran-Iraq War, they are still mistreated in both countries; Neshat, like previous artists, raises the question of who the war is fought for. The woman in the picture raises the question of what she’s fighting for—is it for herself or for the benefits of others?

Duality of Humanity 2, Shepard Fairey (2008)

Starting off as a teenage skater, Shepard Fairey is another famous street artist. His artistic career started off by decorating his skateboard and then plastering the city of Providence with his André the Giant has a Posse stickers; now his art is part of major museum collections. Fairey’s art supports his political beliefs; many of his works are anti-war, anti-oppression and anti-government. He is not afraid to announce his beliefs via art, but it has also led to his arrest many times. Most of his works are innovated from another source; he takes something that already exist and mutates it in a way that makes it his and changes the message.

             This Duality of Humanity print is based on Al Rockoff’s photo of the Vietnam War, a photo of a Vietnamese boy, walking around in his armed weapons and a flower on his head (thegiant.org, Par 2). Rockoff’s photo journal was supposed to show what had happened during the Vietnamese War; Fairey took the photo and revived it in a way that the boy is not going off to fight the enemy, but instead to fight for peace. His backpack has a badge, the OBEY badge, with a peace sign. It is implied that this kid is going to fight, not for the greedy governments, but for his peace. Two strongest powers at the time, United States and the Soviet Union, were fighting to bring Vietnamn into their government. The soldiers who participated in this war were fighting to quench the thirst of the two nations, not for the good of their country. Fairey uses the image of a boy fighting for United States, but transforms it in a way where he is now fighting for his peace, for his country. In addition, Fairey responds to the combination of the original motif (of Vietnam War) and the Iraq War in 2008 in this work (thegiant.org, Par 1). This work combines Rockoff’s response to the Vietnam War with his response with the Iraq War, showing the direct connection between anti-war movements, forty years apart. His work responds to the greed of United States government in both wars. As a response to the Iraq War, Fairey questions the war and its purposes behind it all, by portraying a kid fighting for his peace. In his work, this boy is fighting for his peace; what was the boy fighting for back then? What are the kids in Iraq fighting for today?

“We Can Do It!”, J Howard Miller (1942)

            
            The "We Can Do It!" Poster, often referred to as Rosie the Riveter, was made by an American artist, J. Howard Miller, during World War II, as part of the American propaganda campaign. During the war, the majority of the men in the nation were enlisted in the army, which led to a lack of workers in the nation. Often identified as the iconic American feminist poster, this piece of work lured women left at home to take over the jobs that men had once held. War propaganda in general had many goals, one of them being patriotism; through patriotism, the government implied the idea that the war is for the benefit of American people and that the government is involved in the war for its people (National Park Service, Par 1). This poster is no different.
            In this poster, we see a muscular woman, dressed as a riveter. She resembles a male, except a red bandana on her head implies that she is fashionable, if not feminine. The slogan asks fellow women to be strong and participate in the workforce that they have rarely been a part of up until now. The government is asking women to consider how they can help their country, stirring up patriotism in an effort to gain their support for the war. The slogan “We Can Do It” implies that the government wants women to step up and take the position of men, suggesting that the government is pro-feminist. The slogan also suggests that the nation can win the war, with the help of women. The government created this poster not to support feminism, however, but to help the government satisfy its short-term needs for labor. Like the other works of art in this gallery, therefore, the government is involved in the war to satisfy its needs, not necessarily the needs of people. All the other works of art in this gallery reveal that war helps the government more than the people, even though the government claims that the war is for the benefit of the people. This work of art suggests the opposite, although if you examine it deeply, this work of propaganda functions otherwise.
            The government’s intention with this poster was revealed once the men enlisted came back after the war; the men sent female workers back to their domestic labor, demanding their position in the workforce as men. Factories started sending away their female workers, but these women questioned their role in society. They knew now that they had the ability to work in the same positions as men. This would spark the feminist movement in the United States. Although the government’s intention in this poster was to extinguish their short term problems of a lack of workers, their campaign was the stepping stone to the feminist movement in America.