American Civics is a fine art limited edition series of five prints: Voting Rights, Mass Incarceration, Workers' Rights, Gun Culture, and Two Americas.
This piece is based on a photograph Jim Marshall took while on assignment during the winter of 1963. Marshall embedded himself in a coal mining family in Hazard, Kentucky. He slept in their home and shared their food while he documented their lives and daily struggles to survive in dire poverty. The author of the article however, remained in New York City, and so, believing that the writer was unfairly judgmental about what life was really like for the people of Hazard, Jim refused to allow his photographs to be published with the story.
"In my illustration, I brought the figures of the family closer together to emphasize that love and support are essential to surviving hardship. My inclusion of news clippings about the perils and low wages of the coal mining industry are meant to illustrate the concept of 'Two Americas.' The America many of us like to believe in holds industrial power in high regard, but the less-talked-about America suffers from the low wages and health risks of that same industry." --Shepard Fairey, April 2016
A portion of proceeds will benefit No Kid Hungry and the Jim Marshall Fellowship at UC Berkeley.
Release Notes:
4-Color Serigraph on Varnished 100% Cotton Rag Archival Paper.
Collector's Notes:
Each print is hand-signed and numbered by Shepard Fairey and stamped by Jim Marshall Photography LLC. Orders will ship within a few days.
Buyers will receive a certificate of authenticity following delivery. Please contact us with any questions!