Based on: Michelangelo’s Pieta

This icon of a mother’s grief over her slain son was transformed into a poignant protest against the Viet Nam War. The added text parodies advertising slogans, war profiteering, and the military-industrial complex in which generals and politicians sit on corporate boards. When it became evident that the war was being lost and the anti-war movement was gaining popular momentum, Wall Street and the corporate media eventually decided the investment of lives and resources was counterproductive. Over 58,000 U.S. soldiers and several million Vietnamese were killed. Religious institutions were divided, with New York’s Cardinal Spellman serving as a cheerleader for the war, while other clergy, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Berrigan brothers, vigorously protested the war.