October 2021 / Resurrections #003

Don't do it, 1991
Poster, 1 colour screenprint, 594 x 420mm

From Chris Stannard: This photograph of a US soldier preparing to march into Iraq appeared on the front page of the Courier Mail, the Saturday before the deadline President Bush had imposed on Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. The soldier didn’t look like a tough guy to me. He looked fragile and trepidatious. There was another article in the same edition warning employers that their workers might be suffering despondency and lack of motivation because of the impending conflict. That article suggested people buy themselves a treat, cheer up and go back to work. So I cut the photo off the front page, went into the studio and, by evening, I’d plastered the poster on walls from Newstead to West End. An infant form of social media, responding to the news of the day.