Throughout his career, the street artist Shepard Fairey has shared his graphic style and political message with the public by designing posters. Fairey’s poster obsession began as a teenager. In high school, he would borrow his mother’s Xerox machine to copy logos from skateboarding magazines and plaster them across town. As an art school student in 1989, Fairey created a poster titled Obey Giant that unexpectedly went viral, featuring the seven-foot tall boxer André the Giant. Fairey’s fame skyrocketed once again in 2008 when he launched his iconic red, white, and blue “Hope” posters to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. From the “Peace Guard” posters boycotting violence and war abroad to the “We the People” prints launched for the Women’s March in 2017, Fairey’s posters often promote activism by spreading a message of unity.

Two artists: Shepard Fairey and C.R. Stecyk III

The Pacific Ocean Park pier straddled a dividing line between the cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles. It was in equal portions: a legal quagmire; an abandoned amusement park; a venerable historic artifact; a phenomenal surfing spot, home to acres of unregulated skateable concrete; a site of endless free building materials; and blocks of free space to host any imaginable enterprise.

For a time I worked the POP enviorns for all of the above reasons. Cops from the differing municipalities were loathe to interdict there, as it constituted a jurisdictional no-man's land. So no one ever bothered me. It was a great time and a phenomenally inspirational place. This photo documents one such morning.