Bringing drone strikes home with a rubber stamp

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Take out your wallet and look at the images on the paper money that’s (hopefully) inside. What do you see? No matter what country’s currency you’re looking at, there’s a fair chance that you’ll be able to find an image of a historic architectural or natural landmark like a nation’s capital building. When Joseph DeLappe made that realization, he made a series of stamps depicting an MQ1 Predator Drone and sent them to volunteers around the world. Those volunteers have been asked to use the stamps on the bills in their pocket, in the often empty skies above their national landmarks. In a small way, DeLappe and his team are bringing drone strikes home, one stamp at a time. The project is called In Drones We Trust.

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There’s nothing new about DeLappe’s concept (artists have been modifying with others’ paintings for decades and stamping money for a political purpose has been done before too), but I don’t really mind. The image is immediately powerful. The Predator Drone’s silhouette is instantly recognizable, and the scenario the stamp creates sets up the backdrop of a national landmark doesn’t need any sort of added text or description for a random viewer to get the ominous message.

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No word on how you can get your own drone stamp, but you can see what others have been stamping at the In Drones We Trust Tumblr. If you catch one of these bills in the wild, be sure to take a photo and tag it with  #dronestamp and #indroneswetrust.

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Photos from In Drones We Trust