REUNITE

More than 5,500 children were separated from their families at the U.S. border under the Trump regime. REUNITE, is a poster originally created as an open-source, downloadable image to be used in child separation protest events anywhere in the world.

The billboard was adapted from an original iconic sign that was found along the Southern California highway, which has an interesting design-protest history. Caltrans graphic artist John Hood, a Navajo Vietnam War veteran, created the original image as an assignment in response to the sharp rise in immigrant traffic deaths. The image was developed to elicit immediate recognition of the potential traffic hazard and to illustrate the potential running motion with the little girl's flowing pigtails. The final design process took approximately a week, and Hood drew inspiration from both his experiences in Vietnam as well as stories from his Navajo parents. Hood has stated the man's profile is similar to Cesar Chavez, and the child was depicted as a little girl being dragged along because "little girls are dear to the heart, especially for fathers." Hood likened the immigrants' plight to the Long Walk of the Navajo to their present-day reservation in northeastern New Mexico in 1864.

In 2019 we partnered with For Freedoms to create a billboard for their 50 State Initiative in order to use art to encourage more dialogue and civic engagement and were honored to join this campaign with over 100 artists and 150+ billboards across the country. This billboard focuses attention to the effort of reuniting families separated at the border. The sign is also visible outside of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on 110th between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.

The sign was also displayed on the facade of the 1968 I.M. Pei & Partners building Johnson Museum of Art  for the exhibition, “How the Light Gets In” about the movement of people across the globe and the welcome cracks that develop in our notions of borders and nation states

—“that’s how the light gets in,” Leonard Cohen sang in his 1992 song “Anthem”: Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in