Artist of anti-Trump billboard in Phoenix says she’s received death threats
Mar 22, 2017, 5:13 AM | Updated: 11:24 am
(Reddit Photo)
(Reddit Photo)
PHOENIX — A California artist said she has received death threats after an anti-Trump billboard that she created was enacted in downtown Phoenix last week, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Karen Fiorito, an artist from Santa Monica, said she has received death threats after the billboard depicting President Donald Trump surrounded by mushroom clouds and Nazi-like symbols went up on March 17.
“There have been a couple of people who have said they will come and get me, or that I should be sleeping with a gun underneath my pillow,” Fiorito told CBS Los Angeles. “They are very determined to get under my skin.”
The billboard depicts the president, surrounded by mushroom clouds, which represent “global destruction, warfare and annihilation of the planet.”
Fiorito said the dollar signs that have been manipulated to resemble Nazi swastikas represent “corporate power and greed and how our society has become all about money and corporatism.”
But the billboard isn’t just filled with negative images: The other side shows five hands spelling the word “unity” in sign language, the Associated Press reported.
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“I wanted to have a positive or a flip side to the billboard,” Fiorito told CBS Los Angeles. “I wanted something to be a call to unity and a call for people to come together to resist what’s happening. If we become united, we can defeat anything.”
Fiorito said she was commissioned by a local company to create the billboard, which is located near Grand Avenue and Taylor Street in downtown Phoenix. She also has Arizona roots, earning her master’s degree in arts from Arizona State University.
But Fiorito told CBS Los Angeles that she has also received “tons and tons” of positive feedback on the billboard.
“People either love it or they hate it,” Fiorito said. “A lot of people have defended me online and offered to give me money to keep it up.”
No matter what reaction she gets, Fiorito said she plans on keeping the billboard up through the duration of Trump’s presidency.
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