Keep Your Coins, I Want Change

Courtesy of Emily Isaacson taken at
 Gage Park High School

In my Design class last week, we looked at various street artists and how they used their artwork to spread messages about change. We discussed how artwork does not always have to be displayed in a gallery but can be used effectively to communicate something. We were looking through images done by artist Banksy when I noticed an image that looked quite familiar to me. This past summer, I participated in a week long social justice program in which myself and a group of around fifteen other teens went to different parts of Chicago and learned about issues around us and how to be social justice activists. One day, we went to Gage Park High School on the South West Side and visited with a group of teens that call themselves VOYCE ( Voices of Youth in Chicago Education). They are part of a larger organization that is comprised of CPS student activists who want to make changes in the policies of their schools. The image on the right was painted as part of a mural on the wall of the VOYCE meeting space by students at GPHS. This image was also the one that I saw in Design class last week.

In American Studies, a major theme that I noticed has regularly poped up in discussions for the past couple of weeks has been social class. During the first weeks of AIS, we talked a lot about our own communities and how they may or may not differ from other places in the country. When we went on our field trip to Hyde Park a few weeks ago, we got to experience and explore different parts of Chicago that contrasted to the areas that many of my classmates and I live in. It was a great way to continue our learning outside of the classroom in a constructive and innovative manner.

When I first saw the image on the right, I was truly captivated by the message that it seemed to give off.  To me, this quote is saying something very real about the lives of many U.S. citizens. Although  many Americans are homeless right now, around 636,017 in 2011 according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness's website, I do not think that this message is intended to reflect only the words of the homeless. The witty play on words (coins and change) along with the image of a homeless man are meant to initially make the viewer think of the homeless demographic. As I read more deeply into the actual language, I realized that the homeless man was just a medium through which the artist used to portray a larger statement. The homeless man is saying that if he were given money, that would not help his situation. What he really wants, is change. Change in the economic system so he can get a job, the social class system, or many other interpretations. This can also be taken outside the realm of homelessness by rewording the quote, for example you could say, "I want to take action, not just list ideas". Either way, these two quotes still send out the same message that is very prominent for Americans right now especially because of the current state of the economy.