Poster of the Week

This Is Apartheid, Don't Buy It
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
Offset, circa 1980s
London, United Kingdoms
17675

CSPG’s Poster of the Week is one of more than 60 posters featured in BOYCOTT! – The Art of Economic Activism, an exhibition produced by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

BOYCOTT! – The Art of Economic Activism highlights diverse historical and contemporary boycott movements from the 1950s to the present, and features more than twenty domestic and international boycotts from grapes to sweatshops, from Montgomery, Alabama to the Middle East.

Activists and solidarity groups have often responded to injustices by implementing boycott and divestment campaigns targeting companies and governments that support and sustain these injustices—and posters have been a primary tool for educating about the issues and inspiring people to action. This exhibition uses powerful posters to demonstrate the effectiveness of boycotts as a non-violent tactic to end injustice and oppression.

BOYCOTT! has been traveling around the U.S. since September 2013, and is currently in Los Angeles at Mercado La Paloma through June 29, 2014.

Mercado La Paloma
3655 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90007

On Friday, May 30, there will be a reception and panel from 7-10 pm.  On Saturday, May 31,there will be an exhibition tour and political poster making workshop from 2 – 6 pm.  All events are free and open to the public.

“Nonviolent protest is the most effective weapon of an oppressed people.”
                                                                                                —Martin Luther King, Jr.

Poster of the Week

Xavier Viramontes
“Boycott Grapes”
1973, offset printing

“At the time I made this poster, in the 1970s, I was working with Rene Yanez, director of the Galeria de la Raza of San Francisco. Rene suggested that I do something for the United Farm Workers Union and the grape boycott, which had been ongoing for years. My idea was to remind people that the Mexican farm workers come from a rich cultural background and ought to be treated fairly and with respect. I decided to use a dark brown Aztec godlike figure as the main focal point. The squeezing of the grapes symbolizes the blood and sweat of the farm workers. The intent of the poster was to keep the boycott going, and I think it was successful. It received favorable response from the public and people continue to ask me about it today. Originally a silkscreen, the poster was later reproduced as a lithograph by the United Farm Workers Union. The Boycott Grapes poster was printed in 1973 and is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.”

Artwork © 2007 Xavier Viramontes
www.xavierviramontes.com