Poster of the Week

UCLA Labor Center Banquet
Mark Orozco Justiniani and Joy Mallari
Offset, 2005
Los Angeles, California

CSPG’s poster of the week celebrates the work of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, which serves as a bridge between the university and the labor community in Southern California. As part of the university, the Labor Center is an important resource to interested scholars and students. Through its extensive connections with unions and workers, the Labor Center provides labor activists with access to UCLA's resources and programs.

Produced for the 2005 UCLA Labor Center Banquet, the poster depicts labor activists protesting in a Wal-Mart parking lot, highlighting the Labor Center’s work in organizing the international conference, “Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” Conference participants took part in strategic workshops analyzing Wal-mart’s history of labor practices, the impact on global economics, and the different campaigns in Southern California against Wal-Mart. Each banner in the poster represents one of the individuals honored at the 2005 banquet: California State Assembly member Karen Bass, founder of the Community Coalition which works to improve the quality of life is South Los Angeles; California State Senator Gloria Romero, educator, social activist and prison reformer; Eliseo Medina, international executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and Marvin Kropke, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11. The poster also honors the late Los Angeles labor movement leader, Miguel Contreras of the L.A. County Federation of Labor, with the sign reading “Miguel Contreras ¡Presente!”

About the Artists:
Mark Orozco Justiniani and Joy Mallari are both award-wining Filipino artists whose work has been exhibited internationally. Justiniani first gained critical acclaim when he won the grand prize in the Metrobank National Painting Competition in 1990. Mallari was a finalist in the Osaka Triennale and a top prize winner of the Philip Morris National Art Competition. They received critical recognition from the LA Times for their work with the DejaDesign Gallery in Los Angeles.