Our democracy has been attacked, and there are a few images in particular that stand out. Also in this week’s issue:
How magazines covered 1/6
There’s a mural of “podium guy” in Syria
Mississippi’s new flag has now been signed into law
Yours,
The images I can't shake from the attack on our Capitol
A man holds a “Trump Is My President” flag inside the U.S. Capitol building near the Senate Chamber on January 6, 2021. Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday was an assault on our democracy.
It was an insurrection that shattered one of our most precious, sacred traditions: the peaceful transfer of power. Spurred on by the president’s Big Lie of a stolen election, the mob attacked its own government.
They called themselves “patriots,” but nothing they did was patriotic. They’re criminals, cowards, and suckers, and they desecrated our Capitol.
The U.S. Capitol is one of America’s great art galleries, housing more than 300 paintings, statues, architectural elements, and landscape features. The National Statuary Hall Collection alone includes 100 statues (two from each state), while the 180-foot high Apotheosis of Washington in the eye of the Rotunda is democracy’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Also in the Rotunda hang four paintings of pivotal moments from the American Revolution by the great American painter John Trumbull. His 18-foot long General George Washington Resigning his Commission loomed over members of the mob marching through last Wednesday. The painting shows America’s peaceful transfer of power back in 1783, when Washington voluntarily resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the end of the war.
That mob? In front of that painting? Sacrilegious.
George Washington Resigning His Commission in the Capitol rotunda on January 6, 2021. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP
An inventory of the damage done to the Capitol released by the Office of the Architect of the Capitol and obtained by the New York Times last week reported broken glass and doors, graffiti, and art covered in residue from pepper sprays, tear gas, and fire extinguishers. There was no reported damage to major artwork, but NBC’s Frank Thorp captured a photo of a bust of Zachary Taylor with what appeared to be blood smeared across its face.
Among the most shameful images to come out of that day — and let’s be clear, there are many — are those of the confederate battle flag in the Capitol. Though the confederate design has flown in the building as part of the former Mississippi state flag, historians say it’s the first time someone brought the flag in as an act of insurrection.
“The confederate flag made it deeper into Washington on January 6, 2021, than it did during the Civil War,” Civil War-era historian William Blair told the New York Times. Shameful.
A Quinnipiac poll released Monday found 80% of voters believe the mob undermined democracy. 80%! Is there anything we can all agree on like that? Across Democrats (95%), independents (80%), and Republicans (70%) alike, a broad majority of Americans agree. Our democracy was attacked, but we are united against this evil.
How magazines covered 1/6
Whatever covers magazine art directors had planned for this week went out the window last Wednesday. Here’s how magazines responded to the attack:
Time magazine used an image from Getty photojournalist Drew Angerer from inside the House Chamber. Capitol Police have their firearms drawn behind a barricaded door, with the simple, powerful coverline “Democracy Under Attack.”
Bloomberg Businessweek, known for its strong, editorial covers, went with an image from photojournalist Samuel Corum of the mob ascending up the steps to the Capitol. The visual is juxtaposed with the big yellow words “New Low.”
The New York Times Magazine used a photo facing away from the Capitol in the direction of the White House, showing the mob stretching down Pennsylvania Avenue with “The American Abyss” just above President Donald Trump’s hotel.
Artist Edel Rodriguez illustrated After the Insurrection for the New Yorker. While Rodriguez is often known for his loud covers depicting Trump as a screaming orange menace, this latest cover, of a flag at half staff, is somber. “A part of America died on January 6th,” Rodriguez said.
It’s not a magazine, but the New York Times went with the succinct “Trump Incites Mob” headline and a photo of people climbing the wall for their January 7, 2021 front page (it’s crazy to see the news from Georgia’s Senate runoff races pushed to below-the-fold). Artist Sho Shibuya, known for his NYT front page illustrations, covered the A1 in a red-and-black gradient with the middle of the page made to look as if it were shot, to reveal the subhead underneath: “The president summoned a mob and unleashed it on the Capitol.”
A new yellow street mural, but for pressuring Hawley to resign
The aesthetic of the yellow-lettered street mural popularized by last summer’s “Black Lives Matter” Plaza mural in D.C. is now being used for an issue unrelated to racial justice or policing.
Demonstrators at a 300-person protest in St. Louis on Saturday called for the resignation of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) following his objections to President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. “Resign Hawley” was paintedin yellow on Broadway outside the city’s Old Courthouse.
There’s a mural of “podium guy” in Syria
Credit: Ghaith Alsayed/AP Photo
Syrian street artist Aziz Al-Asmar painted a mural about the U.S. Capitol attack last Friday depicting a parody Congressional seal with a Trump-headed eagle, as well as “podium guy” Adam Johnson, the 36-year-old Florida man photographed carrying Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern and waving.
(Johnson, btw, was arrested last week and he’s been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol ground).
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed his state’s new flag design into law on Monday. The new magnolia “In God We Trust” flag replaces the state’s former flag, which included a confederate battle emblem.
Reeves said at the signing that although some saw the old flag as a symbol of heritage, “many felt dismissed, diminished, and even hated because of that flag,” according to the Associated Press. He called the old flag a “prominent roadblock to unity” while the new one represents the future. “Today, we turn the page.”
