Shepard Fairey's inauguration poster: The meaning behind the 'We the People' art

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Eight years after the red-white-and-blue "HOPE" poster of Barack Obama, that promise of change that united millions of voters might feel like a distant memory — especially after such a bitterly divisive presidential campaign led by billionaire Donald Trump.

Progressives have a new poster child, or series of poster children, for hope. It's not President-elect Trump or his cabinet picks, but a diverse cast of Americans featured in the "We the People" art campaign.

"We the People” has traditionally meant ‘everybody’; all of us," said Jessica Sabogal, a Colombian-American muralist involved in the campaign. "It was the unifying phrase that America was founded upon."

Sabogal joined Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the 2008 Obama poster, and others commissioned by the Amplifier Foundation, a progressive coalition of activists and artists. Their prints, which will be distributed across Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day, feature  Americans from various backgrounds. A black boy with a full head of hair. A Native American woman raising her fist. A Muslim woman sporting a red-white-and-blue hijab.

Authorities estimate Washington, D.C., will attract up to a million people for the inauguration and parade, and additional throngs of protesters this week, the Washington Post reported. Thousands of people are traveling from across the country, from activists taking the bus to the Million Woman March to motorcyclists rolling into join Bikers for Trump.

Ali Geiser, campaign manager for the Amplifier Foundation said the "We the People" campaign isn't protesting the inauguration, but simply promoting unity in the face of partisan gridlock. Still, the campaign has taken shape as progressives lambast Trump for his vows to build a border wall, deport undocumented immigrants and launch a Muslim immigrant registry, among other things.

"We're demonstrating that we're going to stand behind the message of love and that we're going to stand behind the message of unity," Geiser said. "We're demonstrating what we see in 'We the People.'"

Because of restrictions on signs in the city, the foundation plans to take out full-page ads in the Washington Post, as well as other newspapers in the D.C. area, so demonstrators can carry them. The foundation also plans to distribute placards at Metro stops and other drop-off spots.

Downloadable prints also will be available online.

In 2008, Fairey's "HOPE" poster went viral as Obama ran for president calling for change. Fairey said in a statement that the poster was as much a response to the negativity and fear he saw during the Bush administration as it was an endorsement of the Democratic senator from Illinois. But in 2015, Fairey told Esquire in 2015 that the president fell short of his expectations.

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