‘Got the Message?’ showcases some 220 confronting and artistically arresting posters created in Australia and internationally relating to historical and contemporary movements engaged with critical social issues of our time such as war, racism, sexism, AIDS, environmental destruction, nuclear proliferation, consumerism, and political leadership. At times humorous, and others heartfelt, this exhibition focuses on how poster design has developed over the decades and the effects posters had on generations.
This exhibition, held at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, surveys the field of social and political posters over the last 50 years, from 1960s protest posters through to contemporary works when the printed word and image is being strongly challenged by new social media. Curator Geoff Wallis said: “The last 50 years have seen a transformation in the way in which the poster has been used as a political weapon.”
‘Got the Message?’ includes work by internationally renowned artists and designers including Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Tomi Ungerer, Klaus Staeck, Moichi Umemura, Yossi Lemel, Maciej Urbanic, Lex Drewinski, and Henryk Tomaszewski. There will also be important posters by John Lennon/Yoko Ono, Keith Haring, Robbie Conal, Shepard Fairey and feminist warriors the Guerrilla Girls.
While the exhibition focuses on the 1970s and 80s when Australian poster collectives were tackling the pressing issues of that era, it will also include significant posters from the new generation of Australian graphic designers and artists employing digital technology and other media in their mission to reach the masses. It will include a strong contingent of highly-charged international posters, few of which have been seen in Australia before. There will be large and representative groups of posters relating to the Vietnam War (USA), May 1968 (France), ‘Solidarity’ (Poland), the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and Amnesty International, as well as to more recent outbreaks of dissent such as the Occupy movement. Photographic documentation of selected posters in situ and a range of other protest media will provide an essential backdrop to the exhibition. The exhibition is supported by a comprehensive illustrated catalogue which explores the essential history and social context in which these images were created and examines the future of the poster, the role of humour and the problematic function of propaganda and ideology.
Among the most challenging posters are a contingent of anti-George W. Bush posters from the time of the Iraq War, witty and often poignant posters dealing with AIDS, and the Art Workers Coalition ‘And babies?’ poster that brought home atrocities by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. There is also plenty of black humour to be found in posters by Australians Deborah Kelly, Therese Ritchie and Carol Porter. “Wherever possible, photographs of posters in situ will be shown so that viewers gain a better sense of the connections between the posters and the various social and political events that spawned them,” gallery director Gordon Morrison adds.
These posters were designed to hang on street walls, barricades and placards as a form of visual communication demanding attention. A major strength of Australian poster art is its ability to mix pop-cultural imagery with a political message with satire, sarcasm, mockery and enigma as a means to reach the Australian populous on topics of national and international concern.
Political posters are supposed to attack the hearts and minds of their viewers, to instill passion and create action. This exhibition allows the viewer to contemplate how little things change, to consider how similar the voices of today are to those from the past. It reminds us that there is something universal and timeless in the struggles that we face. It also demonstrates that artists are uniquely able to facilitate and help us appreciate the transformative power of free expression.
Art Gallery of Ballarat
2 March to 4 April, 2013
Victoria
Michael Callaghan, Mutate now and avoid the rush, 1970s, screen print
Art Chantry (USA), I take one everywhere I take my penis, 1997, offset print
Courtesy the artists and Ballarat Regional Art Gallery
