Artwork Description
Robert Rauschenberg – Last Turn-Your Turn
Dimensions: 25 x 26″ paper
Year: 1991
Medium: lithograph
Edition: 200
Last Turn—Your Turn is a lithograph Rauschenberg created in support of the Earth Summit ’92, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The summit focused on legislation to reduce global warming. Rauschenberg highlighted the idea of individual responsibility asking, “What can the individual do?” He believed that without individual commitment, legislation cannot be effective. He said, “once the individual has changed, the world can change.”
At the top, Rauschenberg wrote a pledge signed by thousands at the summit: “I pledge to make the earth a secure and hospitable place for present and future generations.” He used straightforward visual vocabulary for an urgent social statement to reach the widest range of people.