R.I. ANGEL OF HOPE AND STRENGTH

"This piece was created to celebrate the courage of healthcare workers specifically, and generally symbolize the spirit of hope, strength, compassion, and resilience that we can all find in ourselves and share collectively."

- Shepard Fairey, 2020

The art of epidemics tends to be one full of dark images. Terrifying deathscapes like that of Bruegel the Elder’s “The Triumph of Death” (c. 1562, Museo Del Prado, Madrid) typify the genre in the popular imagination. How wonderful then to see Shepard Fairey’s R.I. Angel of Hope and Strength during this difficult time? The “audacity of hope” it encourages in the mind of the viewer stands in the sharpest contrast to a tradition of fear, dread, and fatalistic resignation that otherwise characterizes the subgenre. As a historian, an art lover, and—yes—one raised in Rhode Island, the “Angel” gives me a precious and rare sense of courage in the face of seemingly endless quarantine. Thank you, Mr. Fairey. Your message of “Hope” finds us once again…