If you know me, it's likely not a surprise to you that I vote conservatively. That being said, I'm not closed minded to different ideas, and I understand that all parties have their pros and cons. If you tell me you vote differently, that doesn't change how I see you or my opinion of you. I find it odd that this even needs to be mentioned. It should be a given that we treat each other equally regardless of values. My (fairly strong) leaning has just always been towards the Conservative Party and the Saskatchewan Party.
That being said, in 2019 when it came time to vote federally, I wanted to see if I could make a difference. I encourage people to get involved in politics and make a difference, and I decided to try and make a difference through art.
I sought the approval on a photo of Andrew Scheer from the Conservative Party, and after receiving it, got to work.
The piece ultimately turned out pretty good, but I had a few opinions shared that there was 'something off' about it. By that time, I was done with the designing and I was ready to see what, if anything, it might be able to accomplish.
I set up some social media accounts and a free site where anyone could go to download the artwork. Any interested party then had instant access to both print and web files.
Being a one-man business, I didn't have much time to put into advertising this artwork. I gave a few posters to some Conservative members in both Swift Current and Saskatoon. They thought it was pretty great, and I know that some ended up in people's homes. I also put some posters up around Saskatoon, and made a promo video that I hoped would catch on online, but didn't. I'm not a videographer, this was just one man trying to make a difference. I've included the video at the bottom of this page if you're interested.
The highlight of my little experiment came at a Scheer rally in Saskatoon. In the line up, I was chatting with an incredibly intelligent young man, maybe the age of 12. He knew more about politics than I did, and came to the event on his own. I showed him the posters I had in hand, and he said he had seen it outside of the YMCA the week prior. That made me smile, for the obvious reasons, but more so because the posters had been taken down only 1-2 days after I had put them up. It was a privilege to meet this young man.
Later during the rally, Andrew Scheer made his way through the audience after his speech. I held up the poster when he got close to me. His face lit up with sort of a 'hey, that's me!' look, and I was able to get him to sign my artwork for me. That was pretty cool.
Fast forward a bit, and Justin Trudeau was re-elected and Andrew Scheer stepped down.
Looking back, I didn't end up making the impact I had hoped to. The poster and video were hardly shared online. I learned quite a bit from the experience, and if you never try, you never know and you never learn.
Below you'll find the main poster, a squared version for online use, a couple of photos, and the promo video.
Thanks for taking the time!
