PROJECT - PROPAGANDA POSTER

propaganda poster

original image and inspiration

selfie, Ghost's "Square Hammer" music video screenshots (2), art deco posters (2)

artist statement

my propaganda poster is a satirical religious poster about how religions, especially Christianity, use fear tactics to indoctrinate people. i pulled inspiration from art deco style posters and the music video for "Square Hammer" by Ghost. the band Ghost as a whole aims to make a statement about Christianity, specifically the Catholic Church, through acting as a parody of it. 

when selecting my text, i was trying to draw directly from Christian teachings or sayings. i was originally going to use "God is watching", but i went with "'He' is watching" because that looks more ominous. i also used a lyric from another one of Ghost's songs, "Deus in absentia", which means "god in absence". I think that the sort of paradox between "God is always watching" and "God does not interfere" is interesting. if God sees everything that is happening in the world, why would he not interact? does he choose not to? is he unable to? i want people to question that. the second statement is in Latin, which most people would not understand right away, but since the church often has Latin songs, people in the church might understand it better. 

i first created my face using the self portrait shown. i then positioned my face onto the "Square Hammer" music video screenshot once i got the sizing how i wanted. i created a background for myself based on the music video, and to make it symmetrical i did a lot of reflecting, joining, and grouping to keep it together. i used gradients to create depth in the foreground / background, and to create a glowing effect from my face.