Layering the Narrative: Headlines, Images, and the Power of Context

In this activity, you will:

• explore how Shepard Fairey’s print documents and responds to a moment of protest
• trace how Fairey layers multiple historical moments into a single print, and explore how this layering method strengthens the message
• create an original collage that uses layered imagery to connect a present-day issue to its longer history

• Multipart Activity

• Paper
• Pencils
• Access to printable images
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Markers (optional)

The artwork you make today can tell a powerful story about the past. In this activity, you’ll explore how Shepard Fairey layers decades of protest into one print, then build your own layered artwork that connects a current issue to the historical events that shaped it.

Read About American Rage

Start by reading Explore American Rage to learn about a print by Shepard Fairey that speaks out against police violence. This print was inspired by a photograph created by photographer Ted Soqui called South Central Los Angeles, August 15, 2014.

American Rage doesn’t just show one protest. Although Fairey created the print around the time of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, he includes references to similar events from different decades to show the history of the problem.

Take a closer look at specific elements in Fairey’s print:

• 1965 newspaper clipping: In the upper right corner, Fairey includes a newspaper clipping about the Watts Rebellion, one of the first major protests against police violence in Los Angeles.
• 1992 newspaper clipping: Also in the upper right corner, this clipping refers to the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising which began after four police officers were acquitted following the beating of Rodney King.
• Ted Soqui’s 2014 photograph: The central subject of the print is taken from Ted Soqui’s photograph of a protester at a 2014 Black Lives Matter protest, which took place following the killing of Ezell Ford in Los Angeles and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Questions

Write or discuss your responses.

• What effect does it have to layer more than one historical moment spanning several decades into a single image? What historical pattern of injustice is the artist highlighting for the viewer?
• What does the repetition of similar struggles across generations suggest about the systems or conditions protesters are trying to change?
• What artistic, stylistic, and design choices does Fairey use to layer these four moments into one image? Consider color palette, composition, repetition, and placement.

Create Your Own Layered Image Using Collage

Now you’ll create a collage that uses the same technique of layering references to different historical moments to tell a broader story. These directions focus on a physical collage, but feel free to use digital images and drawing software if you prefer.

Step 1: Pick an issue

Choose a present-day issue you care about. Consider topics that impact your community and/or family. Choose an issue that examines systems, policies, or historical patterns. Your topic should look at the bigger picture, like how laws, institutions, or repeated events over time have caused a problem, instead of focusing on blaming one person. Choose your topic carefully. Avoid picking an issue that makes it seem like you’re judging or blaming a specific person or community. Also avoid topics that turn someone else’s painful experiences into something shocking or entertaining, just to grab attention.

Step 2: Find a source image

Find an image that documents something about your issue. It could be a photograph of an event that you found online or in a news source. It could be a photo that you took yourself. This image will be the visual anchor for your collage in the same way that Ted Soqui’s photograph served as the starting point for Fairey’s print.

Step 3: Research the issue

Look for historical documentation about the issue you selected. It could be a past newspaper headline from a related event, or an image from a moment in history that led up to the current situation. Make notes about interesting headlines, quotes, symbols, visual elements, etc. that you find as you conduct your research.

Step 4: Select historical references

After researching the history that led up to the current situation, select two to four historical moments to layer into your collage. You could use headlines, quotes, photographs, graphic symbols or posters, or any other elements or details that help to capture something about the history of the issue. Print and cut out your selected visual elements. If you prefer, you can draw some of them using the image as a reference.

Step 5: Lay out your collage

Using both your source image and the different visual elements you prepared in Step 4, lay everything out on your paper. As you begin to layer the images and rearrange them, you may wish to cut out details or even tear them! (Look at the torn-looking newspaper clippings included in Fairey’s print for ideas.) Play around with the arrangement, considering how the colors, shapes, and lines interact with each other until you like the composition.

Step 6: Glue down each collage element

Once you are happy with your design and layout, use a glue stick to attach each collage element to your paper.

Step 7 (optional): Embellish with markers

If you would like to add more details, use markers to add to the layering. You can draw more visual elements, add words, symbols, or whatever else might help to get your message across.

Reflect on Your Collage

After finishing your artwork, write a short artist statement explaining the significance of each element in your collage. Explain how they work together to communicate something about the issue. What do you hope people will feel and understand after seeing your collage?

A movement and organizing framework that emerged in 2013, founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The movement calls attention to violence and systemic racism experienced by Black communities in the United States, particularly around policing, and has organized major protests following incidents such as the killings of Michael Brown (2014), Ezell Ford (2014), Breanna Taylor (2020), and George Floyd (2020). BLM is both a specific organization and a broader slogan/movement used by many different groups and individuals, whose views on tactics and goals vary.

The organization of lines, masses, shapes, and colors of an artwork into a desired arrangement. Also, the art of arranging these various formal elements.