“Old Money in Paris” by Cheryl Fudge is a mixed media protest collage that transforms a nostalgic Parisian street scene into a quietly powerful commentary on the consequences of economic nationalism, cultural isolation, and rising global division.
At first glance, it’s a romantic European tableau—but upon closer inspection, the figures’ faces are replaced with coins from around the world. Once symbols of wealth, these currencies now represent faceless individuals in motion—reminding us how tariffs, walls, and closed borders reduce people to politics and profit.
This work stands as a protest against policies—such as isolationist tariffs and cultural fearmongering—that attempt to define worth by origin, and restrict the natural flow of people, ideas, and commerce. Fudge’s figures walk, ride, and move through a timeless Paris—unaware of the artificial lines drawn around them.
Surrounding the scene, hand-painted matting and decoupaged vintage paper money frame the piece in the very instruments of economic control and manipulation. The silver-sprayed vintage frame connects eras—reflecting how today’s political shifts are echoes of the past, retold through new policies that threaten shared progress.
This is the first in a new series by Cheryl Fudge—work that challenges viewers to imagine a future where cultural coexistence, creative exchange, and human dignity rise above politics of division
