OBAMA VOTE ART PROJECT

So, I have this idea.

This Election Cycle has been exhausting. After two years of ups and downs and speculation and ugly politicking, we're all just about over it. But this election is also the most historic and poignant moment of our young lives. This election, and the popular uprising by our generation to elect Barack Obama, will be taught in the text books that our children will read. How powerful a moment this is, that our generation, OUR generation has been the face of change on so many fronts, with this election the culmination of our empowerment. It may sound silly now, but our generation has changed the function of communication itself, with the rise of Facebook and Youtube--we enabled those inventions to succeed--we identified them as a tool for young people, and then utilized them in a way that no one could have imagined 4 years ago, when we were graduating from high school. And now, with this election, we have finally turned on the light of our intellect and our mobility, to drown out the deafening darkness of apathy. If Barack Obama is elected President of the United States on Tuesday, we will have done it.

I'm hoping to construct a major art project that will capture this sentiment. It will be centered on us.

I'm writing this note to ask a favor of everyone who reads it. I would like to get my hands on as many pictures of people in their voting booths as possible--in the act of voting. That means, digicam, picture phone, polaroid--any way that you can capture the act of voting for Barack Obama. Twisting to get your face in a self taken with a voting machine isn't necessary--just hands and screens, fingers and provisional ballots--- whatever you want to get in the picture to document your vote. Some polling places won't have curtains or booths, especially in states with electronic voting, but don't let that discourage you from taking a subtle camera phone picture. Especially since, in this day and age of computer voting, having a picture record of your vote isn't a terrible idea anyway.

I understand that some people may want to just privately experience their vote, and not have any kind of subtle camera work to worry about. But considering how powerful a compilation of this kind could be, and how fluidly we can all pull out our iphones and snap a quick picture, I beg you to try. I would love to create a lasting expression of how much we have all put into this.

Please please! Consider contributing your vote to this project. Email me pictures at tracyerincox@mac.com
You can also join the OBAMA VOTE ART PROJECT group on Facebook for discussions on the topic.

Thank you, and happy voting!