Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Revolution In Our Time”?
Artist Statement
I've long believed that protests in the streets are an essential tool for meaningful change because the passion, courage, and visceral force of the participants in a mass protest send a powerful message that they are fully committed to their cause! Ed Nachtrieb photographed many incredible moments of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in China. I'm honored to collaborate with Ed on a set of two images based on his documentation 30 years ago, especially because pro-democracy and human-rights protesters are still in the streets of Hong Kong!?? ??????????? Long Live the People + Revolution in our Time matching numbered set. Silkscreen on cream Speckle Tone Paper. 18 x 24 inches. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 500. A limited number of both editions will be available as a set for $130. Long Live the People (sold individually) will be available for $70. Proceeds go to @hongkongfp.
Summary
Revolution In Our Time is a 2020 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant in a signed, numbered first edition of 500 at 18 x 24 inches on cream Speckle Tone paper. Created in collaboration with photographer Ed Nachtrieb, the image is based on his documentation of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. It forms a matching numbered set with Long Live the People, and its title echoes a slogan tied to ongoing Hong Kong protest movements. The print frames mass street protest as a tool for meaningful change, with proceeds directed to Hong Kong Free Press.
Why It Matters
This print sits squarely in Fairey's long engagement with protest as a vehicle for change, but it stands out because it ties a specific historical event, the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, to a contemporary movement, the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, through a direct collaboration with photojournalist Ed Nachtrieb. Rather than a generic activist image, it carries documentary weight: the underlying source is real reportage of a pivotal moment in modern Chinese history. Pairing it with Long Live the People as a matching numbered set gives collectors a two-part statement on human rights and democratic resistance. The dedication of proceeds to Hong Kong Free Press grounds the work in present-day press-freedom advocacy rather than abstraction. For collectors, the combination of a recognized photographer collaboration, a clear cause, and a modest edition of 500 makes this a meaningful entry in Fairey's civil-rights body of work. It demonstrates how Fairey repurposes existing photojournalism into his graphic vocabulary while keeping the political message front and center, a recurring strategy across his career that here gains added resonance from the cross-generational link between two protest movements three decades apart.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors focused on human-rights and pro-democracy themes, and to those who value Fairey's documentary-rooted collaborations over purely decorative work. The 18 x 24 inch format on cream Speckle Tone paper makes it easy to frame and display alongside other protest-themed prints. It is especially attractive bought as the matching numbered set with Long Live the People, which lets a collector present a complete two-image statement on the same wall. Buyers drawn to the cause element will note the proceeds going to Hong Kong Free Press. With a signed, numbered edition of 500, it fits collections built around Fairey's politically engaged 2020 output rather than his music or floral series, and pairs naturally with his other civil-rights releases from the same period.
Historical Context
Released in February 2020, this work belongs to Fairey's prolific period of cause-driven editions issued through Obey Giant. It draws on Ed Nachtrieb's photographs of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, made thirty years before the print's release, and connects that history to the pro-democracy and human-rights demonstrations then ongoing in Hong Kong. The collaboration extends Fairey's recurring practice of building prints from existing photojournalism. Issued as one half of a matching numbered set with Long Live the People, it reflects his continued use of limited editions to fund advocacy organizations, here directing proceeds to Hong Kong Free Press, and reinforces the civil-rights and democracy strand that runs through much of his work in this era.
FAQ
What is Revolution In Our Time based on?
It is based on Ed Nachtrieb's photographs of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in China. Fairey collaborated with Nachtrieb on a set of two images drawn from that documentation, releasing this print in 2020 as the protests in Hong Kong continued.
What are the edition details?
It is a screen print on cream Speckle Tone paper, 18 x 24 inches, signed by Shepard Fairey and numbered in an edition of 500. It was published by Obey Giant in 2020 and offered individually at $70.
Is it part of a set?
Yes. It forms a matching numbered set with Long Live the People. A limited number of both editions were available together as a set for $130, with each available individually.
Where did proceeds go?
According to the release, proceeds went to Hong Kong Free Press, tying the print to support for press freedom and pro-democracy advocacy.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.