Process

When I first began this project, I wanted to reveal how much power the NRA had over the country. I had seen Banksy's "One Nation Under CCTV", and had decided that I could do something similar. I found a bumper sticker that said "One Nation Under God" and proceeded to work with that, crossing out the word "God" and replacing it instead with "Guns". I wanted the painters to be young children to represent innocent life lost to gun violence, specifically the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. However, the product I ended up with (shown below) was not something I liked compositionally, and I believed it did not put across the right message. Everyone already knows the NRA has power, but what I wanted to reveal was the fact that they profit from gun violence and thus have an interest in halting gun reform. I decided to go deeper and directly vandalize the NRA seal itself. I crossed out the word "Rifle" and replaced it with "Blood Money". I also simplified the color palette and rearranged the composition to end up at the product that finally satisfied me and my inner critic (shown under the product section).