Donald vs. Hillary: The best and worst of 2016’s election-themed street art
If you’re anything like me, this entire campaign has been very difficult to process. U.S. presidential elections aren’t exactly known for their nuance, but the fact that xenophobia, Islamophobia, and aggressive sexism have proven to be a viable platform is depressing. Honestly, I’d just like to make it to November 9, so I can sleep for 60 hours straight and enjoy the last few months of Turbobama before hopefully living the next eight years of my dumb life without being completely besieged by grammatically plagued, incoherent, hateful sludge.
Graffiti can help us process complicated political situations that we may otherwise be in too much denial to articulate. A subversive art form, it can reflect the real voice of the people, providing the subtle, sophisticated commentary that news can’t. Or it can make Donald Trump into a turd and Hillary Clinton a stripper, because everything is meaningless and so are we. Art! Anyway, even though this particular election cycle may not have brought any game-changing art on the level of Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster, here’s a bunch of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton-related graffiti to tide you over for the next 17 days.
Oh, and if you need some easy listening as you make your way through this gallery, I got you. And by “I,” I mean “the Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers.” Because we are TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS.
Here we have the classic Hanksy piece depicting Donald Trump as poop:
More poop:
Take a break from that poo and check out this pee:
This one speaks for itself:
About that wall:
Great use of bathroom space:
Trumpepe (via Tumblr):
Stop Trump:
Here’s LushSux’s take on Illma Gore’s “Make America Great Again,” the well-known nude painting of Donald Trump—featuring Hillary Clinton. (Here’s the uncensored version.)
And of course:
On the other hand, there is also plenty of graffiti that attacks Hillary:
LushSux also went on to censor this portrait of Hillary—this time at the behest of a local Melbourne council, who deemed the piece sexist because, yeah, it’s sexist. Cool statement, bro.
Based on the list of 13 words that the HRC “Super Volunteers” warned the media to avoid because of their sexist undertones:
But while it’s hard to find any uplifting and positive graffiti portrayals of Trump, there’s definitely a lot pro-Hillary art out there.
And another Rosie the Riveter portrayal:
Some stickers:
And then there’s some work that features both of the candidates, presumably for the undecided voter? Starting with this… stuff:
And, last but not least, some of this: