What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Alto Arizona”?

Artist Statement

First and foremost on behalf of the Alto Arizona/ NDLON/ Puente Arizona family I would like to greatly thank all of the hundreds of artists who donated imagery to the Alto Arizona Art Campaign launched this past April. We appreciate your generosity, self determination and commitment to the struggle we face in Arizona battling SB1070, 287G, Joe Arpaio, Russel Pearce, Jan Brewer and HATE. As of now we are working on the next chapter of this campaign which will include a new website and productions of more limited edition prints to be up for sale in the future. The funds generated from the sales of this print (Alto Arizona Girl) will go directly to hire a campaign manager to further organize and take this campaign to the next chapter. We would also like to give a BIG thanks to our friend Shepard Fairey and his crew (Dan, Tina, Kyle, Mike, Olivia, Jen, Jaspr, Debbie) who have been very helpful in the sales and facilitating of this campaign, your help and dedication has been a great help in our efforts for dignity in Arizona. Thanks- Ernesto In the last year, Arizona’s immigrant and Latino community organized to defend themselves and to uphold cherished national values. They have marched, they have held sit-in’s, they have been arrested, and their efforts have captivated the attention of the nation. Critical to the effort in Arizona has been the voice of the artistic community. Our colleague, Ernesto Yerena inspired literally hundreds of artists- musicians, graphic designers, street artists, and others to donate artwork to the cause. The body of work is an expression of liberation and was designed to lift the voices of a community that was supposed to be silenced by SB1070. Shepard has teamed up with Ernesto once again with the releasing of the Alto Arizona print. The print uses a remixed image from the original collaboration for Immigration Reform campaign of last year. A collection of other art is also available at, AltoArizona.com. Edition of 300 Signed by both Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena Releasing 10/07/010

Summary

Alto Arizona is a 2010 Shepard Fairey screen print, 18 x 24 inches, in an edition of 300, released October 7, 2010 at $50. A collaboration with artist Ernesto Yerena, it is signed by both Fairey and Yerena. The image, sometimes called Alto Arizona Girl, remixes artwork from their earlier Immigration Reform collaboration and supports the Alto Arizona / NDLON / Puente Arizona campaign opposing SB1070 and related anti-immigrant policies. Proceeds funded a campaign manager to organize the next chapter of the effort. The print emerged from an art campaign launched that April in which hundreds of artists donated imagery.

Why It Matters

Alto Arizona is a documented art-and-activism collaboration between Fairey and Ernesto Yerena, made in direct response to Arizona's SB1070 and the broader crackdown on the state's immigrant and Latino community. The source situates it within a larger movement: hundreds of artists donated imagery to the Alto Arizona Art Campaign, an effort the text describes as 'an expression of liberation' designed to amplify a community 'supposed to be silenced.' That collective context gives the print unusual civil-rights weight, and the explicit funding purpose, hiring a campaign manager to advance the organizing, ties ownership to concrete activism. As a co-signed Fairey/Yerena work remixing their earlier Immigration Reform collaboration, it also marks a significant ongoing partnership; Yerena is a recurring Fairey collaborator. For collectors, the dual signature, the smaller edition of 300, and the rich, dated political backstory all elevate it above a generic portrait. It stands as a tangible artifact of the 2010 immigrant-rights struggle and of how Fairey lent his platform and sales infrastructure to community-led campaigns.

Collector Perspective

This print appeals to collectors of Fairey's political and civil-rights work, to those who follow his collaborations with Ernesto Yerena, and to buyers drawn to immigrant-rights and Latino activism art. The dual signature of Fairey and Yerena, the edition of 300, and the deeply documented campaign backstory give it strong provenance and meaning. At $50 it was an accessible release. The 18 x 24 format frames easily and pairs well with other Fairey/Yerena collaborations or civil-rights themed prints. It fits a collection organized around Fairey's activist collaborations or immigration and social-justice subject matter.

Historical Context

Released in October 2010 through Obey Giant, Alto Arizona reflects Fairey's deepening collaboration with Ernesto Yerena and his engagement with immigrant-rights organizing. It grew out of the Alto Arizona Art Campaign launched in April 2010, a response to SB1070 and associated enforcement, and remixed imagery from Fairey and Yerena's earlier Immigration Reform collaboration. The print exemplifies how, in this period, Fairey used his sales and production capacity to support community-led campaigns, with the funds earmarked for a campaign manager. It sits within his broader early-2010s arc of civil-rights and collaboration-driven editioned prints.

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Related Works

Cornel West2010 · Same 2010 period collaboration print with civil-rights subject matter and multiple signatories.

Relief For Haiti2010 · Contemporaneous benefit collaboration directing proceeds to a cause.

Duality Of Humanity 52009 · Part of Fairey's collaborative social-justice series in the surrounding years.

Eye Alert Red2010 · Shares the civil-rights-and-justice theme from the same release year.

Eye Alert Cream2010 · Companion civil-rights themed 2010 release in a variant colorway.