For the 2024 election issue, the Voice commissioned four alumni artists to reinvent the get-out-the-vote poster in light of the November U.S. election.
Christina Seely ’98 • Erica Lord ’00 • Ethan Murrow ’98 • Mildred Beltré ’91
Download and print a PDF of Lord’s poster, post in your community, then share your photo: voice@carleton.edu.
Bio
Erica Lord lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She explores contemporary Indigenous experience and the impact of our rapidly changing world on culture and identity, drawing on her mixed-race cultural identity and background growing up between Alaska and Upper Michigan. In 2023, the Smithsonian featured Lord’s work in the Renwick Invitational, a biennial showcase of contemporary craft.
“We’ve always been here, and maybe we weren’t included in the original symbolism of the flag but we can always add that on our own.” – Erica Lord ’00
Approach
During one of Lord’s earliest art lessons, she learned about the U.S. flag and was struck by the dual meaning of the red stripes. “I learned they symbolized the bloodshed fighting for the land,” she says. “As a Native person, I questioned that history because there was also bloodshed trying to hold onto that same land.”
Lord drew inspiration from Norman Rockwell’s painting Mending the Flag for her poster. In her reimagining, a Native woman replaces Betsy Ross (the seamstress of the American flag) and adds new stripes made of various colors of ribbon worn in First Nations regalia. “We’ve always been here, and maybe we weren’t included in the original symbolism of the flag,” says Lord, “but we can always add that on our own.”
Here, stitching is a metaphor for small actions that can unite a nation, like casting a single vote. “Considering the divisive nature of the country right now, especially about the coming November elections,” says Lord, “I felt it was appropriate because, as a country, we have a lot of mending and healing that we all need to do together.” Lord uses slang familiar to Indigenous people, “skoden” or “let’s go then,” as her call to action.
On Art & Democracy
“Art has always served as a way for me to respond to and reconcile the world around me. It has always been an outlet for dealing with what troubles me. I truly believe that art and creativity can reflect something true and honest, revealing something deeper that, in the end, can create dialogue and effect change.”