Friday, August 11, 2017

Indian American artist says Trump is fowl

Tarang Singh Brar explains the significance of his unique form of protest.

WITH THE STANDARD shot of the White House on the screen behind him, TV reporter Jose Lederman was preparing to hand it over to the off-screen Fox News anchor Shepherd Smith, Smith spotted something odd.

"Before we go, right over your shoulder. We see this shot all the time, but what is that?" Smith asked.

"Shep, it appears to be a very large chicken display," Lederman responded, managing not to crack a smile.

The 30-foot inflatable chicken couldn't be missed. activist and documentary filmmaker Tarang Singh Brar positioned his artwork perfectly so that news reports using the White House as a backdrop could not help but notice the blown-up fowl that had a striking resemblance to the current White House occupant with its furrowed brow, mall mouth and the swoop of orange hair.

Why and for what purpose?

"Obvioiusly, its a protest," said Brar, who said in a video that he hoped "bring awareness" to what he said was a bad and destabilizing,"U.S. leader. 

"The messaging is that the president's too afraid to take action. He's a weak and insecure leader and playing a great game of chicken with North Korea," said the the artist.
Brar said he hoped to "bring awareness" to what he said was a "bad and destabilising" US president.

Money for the protest was reportedly raised on GoFundMe. 

He spent hours watching news reports to see where exactly tp place his chicken for the best visibility.  He finally picked a spot on the Ellipse between the White House and the Washington Monument.

"I understood that if I positioned it correctly and got the permit for the correct place, I would be in full view of the cameras. And, I did it in such a way that the White House wasn't blocking it, which I knew would be what would take it viral globally," he said.



It was not the first time that Chicken Don, as he is known, has been used as public protest. The inflatable began appearing at the protest marches in the first six months of the Trump reign.

It took Brar four months of red tape and thousands of his own dollars to haul the fowl protestor across country and gain the permits necessary for its installation. He got the permission from the National Park Service and clearance from the Secret Service to place the chicken where he wanted for maximum exposure.

Unfortunately, Trump was on a "working vacation" and missed the chicken roosting outside the White House. 

The inflatable was deflated after one day but not before thousands of tourists took pictures of it and it stirred up social media.

“Trump causes so much stress and chaos in people’s lives,” Brar said. “Something cute like this that resonates brings a lot of joy.”

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