Jack Pierson The Stories Behind the Obama Presidential Center’s Major New Artworks
By Vittoria Benzine
New York-based photographer Jack Pierson started making his signature Word Collages in 1991. He’s produced at least one such artwork reading “Hope” previously. Of course, the word also made a clear fit for Pierson’s opportunity to adorn a prominent corridor leading into the center’s museum. These four letters defined a moment.
“I tried a few other things because I didn’t want to just go right to the easiest choice,” Pierson told me on a video call. Alas, his other ideas for words, like “Amen,” didn’t yield quite the same impact. Besides, hope has only become more important over the past decade, considering the state of the world. “I wouldn’t say it’s all we have left,” he said, “but it’s one of the things we have left.”
Three-quarters of the letters here emerge from the repository of vintage signage that Pierson has steadily amassed over the past 30 years. This trove has only grown more precious as signs in general become increasingly digital. You’ll notice that the “O” in this rendition of “hope” is quite large—a nice shoutout to the Obamas. The “P,” however, was an ornate treasure Pierson scored on a recent road trip down South.
