Original Image:
For my first DIY, I took the iconic image of the Cuban Revolutionary leader Che Guevara, which has graced the shirts and posters of countless college students for the past fifty years and manipulated it to fit Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s face onto el Che’s. My central idea was to portray the idea that many young people today have about Cortez, who is today the clearest face of socialism (albeit democratic in this case) in the United States, much like Guevara was back in the 1960s. Furthermore, I wrote the words “She Guevara” in military style font above Cortez’s head, as a play on Che Guevara’s name that emphasized Cortez’s strong identity as a powerful feminist that’s ready to fight for the rights of women.
The original image of el Che quickly came to symbolize the counter-culture of the 1960s that rebelled against the conservatism of the 1950s. Presently, many people are expressing a similar dissatisfaction with the “establishment” and the corporations of the “mainstream media” that they perceive as removed and uninterested in the needs of everyday Americans. I see parallels between the 1960s and our current moment, especially in the fights for women’s rights (#MeToo) and the protests for better treatment of minorities in general (#BlackLivesMatter). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become one of the leading voices and most recognizable faces in this fight against the established order, as evidenced by her decision to not take campaign contributions from corporations to not be influenced by big money, and only by the will of the people she would represent.
Overall, my DIY represents Alexandria Ocasio Cortez as the heir to the socialist legacy left behind by Che Guevara, and of his mission to lead the fight against the conservative, established way of politics and to gain a better future for the common people.
Trifling Works 