Emory Douglas. Poster from The Black Panther, November 8, 1969
Emory Douglas served as Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the party disbanded in the 1980s. Douglas’s contributions to the party’s newspaper, posters and pamphlets helped to define the movement’s distinct visual aesthetic, while disseminating the party agenda in a cogent and compelling style. Additional works from Emory Douglas can be found
here.
Emory Douglas. Poster from The Black Panther, July 22, 1972
"Douglas branded the militant-chic Panther image decades before the concept became commonplace. He used the newspaper's popularity to incite the disenfranchised to action, portraying the poor with genuine empathy, not as victims but as outraged, unapologetic and ready for a fight." - The San Francisco Chronicle
Emory Douglas. Poster from The Black Panther, September 21, 1974
“I came to this idea about the president being a puppet, a mouthpiece for big corporate business. I wanted to illustrate, with the stock market page and symbols from corporate America, that everything was in the hands of a few corporations. All the money that was being spent on these campaigns, when the president get elected, whoever gave the most millions was gonna get the best deal. Today people understand this, but at the time, we were educating the masses.” - Emory Douglas
"Darling! Let's Get Deeply into Debt." by Whinendine for Adbusters Magazine
Adbusters Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization comprised of a “global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.” Through culture jamming campaigns such as Buy Nothing Day and the production of its infamous subvertisements, Adbusters seeks to reveal the underlying machinery of consumer culture. Visit www.adbusters.org for more information.
"Got Milk?" subvertisement, Adbusters Magazine
Adbusters Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization comprised of a “global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.” Through culture jamming campaigns such as Buy Nothing Day and the production of its infamous subvertisements, Adbusters seeks to reveal the underlying machinery of consumer culture. Visit www.adbusters.org for more information.
Untitled (Money Can Buy You Love), Barbara Kruger
Addressing issues of feminism, consumerism, autonomy and desire, artist and sloganeer, Barbara Kruger, appropriates the conventions of advertising in order to illicit a deeper consideration of the social, economic, and political memes we take for granted.
Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am), Barbara Kruger
"[Barbara] Kruger's background in graphic design and advertising enhanced her astute recognition of the power of words and images to control, to arouse desires, and to define and reinforce stereotypes. For Kruger, working inside the advertising world was the perfect training for her to understand the techniques of manipulation, and to then illuminate and undermine them with her own subvertising art." - Shepard Fairey
Untitled (When I Hear The Word Culture I Take Out My Checkbook), Barbara Krugar
Shepard Fairey's article on the influential work of Barbara Kruger, can be found
here.
Banksy in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Influenced by the Marxist organization, the Situationist International, the anonymous street artist, Banksy, employs vandalism and détournement as a means of critiquing socio-economic injustices, inequality, and oppression throughout the world. Through the implementation of graffiti, stencils, and subversive pranks, Banksy’s work serves as a voice of urban lament, indicting the powers that be, in the midst of the public square by quite literally writing their sins on the wall.
Banksy in New Orleans, Louisiana, for the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
"Crayon Foreclosure" Banksy in Compton, California, February 2011
"We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves." - Banksy, Wall and Piece
Banksy at the Israeli West Bank Barrier, Palestine
Cairo, Egypt, 2011
The League of the Revolution’s Artists, a collective of poets, playwrights, actors, and visual artists create art along Hahrir Square during protests that lead to President Hosni Mubarak’s ouster.
"We accomplished the biggest uprising in the world in 18 days," said Zaky Khelfa, one of the founders of the impromptu arts group. "And how did it happen? With art and blood. We drew the ideas of the people." – LA Times
Benghazi, Libya, 2011, artist unknown
A mural depicts the ousting of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the rebel-held city of Benghazi, as a man gives the 'victory' sign to his son.
I think this is a powerful exhibit. Thank you.