17”x20” premium limited edition archival print made in-house using archival pigment-based ink on high-quality, acid-free matte cotton rag paper. Signed and numbered by Niki Johnson.

More about the artwork:

“Pillars of Democracy” is a four part series of portraits that foreground the role of women in the democratic process, the struggle inherent in progress and the role of art in advancing movements of change.

The figures of Liberty, Justice, Freedom and Forward feature the portraits of four first-time voters from Wisconsin. Liberty is represented by first-time voter Lola, who immigrated to the U.S. with her family three years before this project began. She’s the youngest in her family, a talented illustrator, and just completed her freshman year at Marquette University, where she’s studying environmental engineering. Her ambition and creativity, paired with her experience of navigating a new country, reflect the dynamic possibilities of liberty in action.

Built from discarded stencil paper and leftover spray paint from Shepard Fairey’s 2020 installation of the “Voting Rights Are Human Rights” mural in downtown Milwaukee and formatted from the composition of Bertha Boyd’s 1911 suffrage poster “Votes for Women”, this series engages dialogue between contemporary protest, suffrage-era design and the enduring power of the vote. Milwaukee artists Lois Bielefeld, Nova Czarnecki, Celeste Contreras, Fran Korthof, Brandom Terres-Sanchez and Serena Weits contributed to this project as did nearly 70 volunteers from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, League of Women Voters - Milwaukee County, PERSISTers, Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast, as well as friends old and new.

At its core, “Pillars of Democracy” declares that democracy is not abstract—it’s built, sustained and strengthened by each of us, right where we live. It lives in the choices we make and the values we uphold.

Read more about the project at www.nikijohnson.com/writing/pillars-of-democracy