Just Say No

Presenter: Hannah Taylor

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Sandra Moore

Department: American Multicultural Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Diversity and Social Justice

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1_HYntdgnTz83kCykUulTLrW47Gl91nj_

Abstract:
For my project, I painted a poster with a skeleton in a hoodie leaning over a table snorting Nancy Reagan's campaign slogan that she had during the War on Drugs that says "just say no". The skeleton is portraying the black community suffering. The skeleton is leaning over the table snorting the cocaine logo because the government during the war on drugs was not helping minorities by treating them to stop using they were just sending minorities to jail with a harsh sentence. The cocaine letters that the skeleton is snorting is supposed to be ironic because all that Nancy Reagan was doing was telling people drugs are bad and to "just say no" and nothing more. The reason I wanted to paint something was that from this class I learned how important and influential art was in the 80s. I wanted to test my own artistic abilities and try to send a message that would have possibly inspired people back in the 80s.