Existing comment:
Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?
1981
offset lithograph on paper
López conceived an early version of her iconic poster Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim? while working on a local campaign in response to President Jimmy Carter's Immigration Plan. The Aztec warrior's stance recalls that of Uncle Sam in James Montgomery Flagg's "I Want You" army recruitment posters, pointing a finger at the viewer and ordering young men to enlist. In mimicking Flagg's iconic image, López gives her poster a subversive authority. Her question directed at "pilgrims" interrogates who can identify others as "illegal aliens," especially since Mayflower settlers from Europe arrived in the Americas without "papers."
Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2020.43.1 |