New No's: Paul Chan and Badlands Unlimited

New No’s is a simple yet direct poem of defiance. Published as a poster in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, the poem stands as a manifesto of resistance and a protest for solidarity against political and social shifts the artists observed in the United States and beyond. Describing responses to the poem, Badlands Unlimited said:

We keep getting calls and emails at the office, telling us it’s "complicated." They say we don’t "understand them" … that while there were definitely voters who acted on racist, misogynist, and xenophobic instincts, most voted simply out of the sense that their economic hardships were being ignored. But we know it’s not complicated. It’s pretty simple, actually. That’s why we wrote this the weekend after the election.

More than an ideological artwork, New No’s incorporated direct fiscal activism. Available for purchase from 2016–2018, a portion of the proceeds from sales of the poster were donated to Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.