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From Al Jazeera English:
From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, "The Protester" has been named Time Magazine's 2011 "Person of the Year".
The annual distinction is given to the person or thing that Time believes has most influenced culture and the news during the past year, for good or for ill.
Time says the outcry for democratic politics became globalised this year and protesters made history.
Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports from Washington DC.
Photos by Ted Soqui © 2011
Text and Video SOURCE Freelance photographer Ted Soqui was on the scene of a Occupy LA protest at Bank of America in Downtown LA back in November, hoping to get some interesting shots.Here is a visual timeline of images right before "the shot" that was used to illustrate Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2011 "The Protester."
I started off with a wide angle lens and wasn't really feeling the image. Once Sarah Mason put on her bandana, which was soaked in vinegar just in case the LAPD decided to use tear gas on her and her fellow protesters, I knew it would have to be a tight shot. Immediately I switched to a 70-200 zoom lens and shot about 5 frames of Sarah close up. The "one" shot stood out to me instantly and I knew no more needed to be taken.
"The light was perfect, and I saw these people standing there, and it was like, this was a great opportunity for some photography," said Soqui.
One of the young women in the crowd stood out: 25-year-old Highland resident Sarah Mason.
Soqui started snapping away as she linked arms with other protestors.
"She had confidence for that moment, and for the Occupy movement, and even though she was locked into this human chain of people, they were locked arms," said Soqui.
An image Soqui took of Mason was transformed into the cover photo of TIME Magazine's "Person of the Year" issue.
Soqui said he's thrilled, but Sarah Mason is a bit overwhelmed.
"I think she's finally getting a grasp of it," said Soqui. "It's important that world leaders will see this from the common man, to the President, to Prime Ministers. Everyone in the world will recognize the person of the year."
ABOUT THE ART
SOURCE Activist street artist Shepard Fairey, of Obama's HOPE poster fame, designed the cover image. HuffPost Arts asked Fairey some questions about the challenge of creating the emblem.
The cover depicts an anonymous protestor, serious yet sympathetic. Simultaneously representing a selection of minorities and a sweeping generality. At first glance it is easy to make assumptions about the protestor's gender, race and age, but a second look makes any sure judgment difficult. The protestor is rendered in Fairey's signature style, striking propaganda inspired minimalism with a stencil-esque youthfulness. Behind the figure is a collage of rally scenes from the Time Magazine archives, consisting of signs like "We Need Good Jobs" and "People Power, Not Ivory Tower."
What aesthetic and historical influences did you incorporate into the TIME cover image?
Time provided me with reference images to sift through and I illustrated from a photograph that I thought would be a good reference for an iconic and compelling protester who would come across as serious, but not scary. Most of the protesters are normal, idealistic, young adults, so I thought the "person next door" feel was important. I'm influenced by propaganda poster art and I try to emphasize the most powerful essence of an image and eliminate anything superfluous. My color palette has a propaganda influence as well. I like Warhol as well.The brilliance of Fairey's image is its simultaneous evocation of the particular and the general, the individual and the archetype. On the one hand the image is a collage, just as there is no one manifesto for OWS making just one visual representation impossible. And yet in the devoted eyes of Fairey's anonymous protestor the greatest of differences lose their significance. Fairey conveys the move of a crowd putting on Guy Fawkes masks, of millions of people becoming 'the 99%.'
The image has not been entirely well-received, with LA Times critic Christopher Knight calling it "wince-inducing," "corporate," and "conventional." Yet in an interview with Time, Fairey explained his view of the protestors as "A lot of them are just regular folks who feel dissatisfied." Perhaps that is the most revolutionary part of the ongoing protests, that the protestors aren't all that conventionally revolutionary. READ MORE ...
