Art Against Apartheid ‘85-’85

Art Against Apartheid ‘85-’85

Chicago Anti-Apartheid

One South African artist, Willie Bester, states in the article, Apartheid’s Artistic Legacy, “My art was a chance to be heard…” This really embodies the importance of not only this art, but all art a it relates to people’s ability to express their opinions and to share their world with the world. The Art Against Apartheid movement was a united group of artists across America that protested and made what effort they could to fight apartheid. It’s a work that was produced by an artist in the art against apartheid movement using 1960s postering technology. Its purpose is to inform and remind activists of meetings in which they would organize to speak out against apartheid. This piece depicts fists raised clenching paint brushes, a flute, ballet shoes and sheet music paper in an effort to express the stance of artists that were against apartheid. On the left side of the poster are dates for meetings in which activists would gather and protest against apartheid. It also has the mission statement in yellow text at the bottom of the poster. It makes good use of colors like the red lettering in the title and the yellow backdrop and white and black images that stand out boldly on the poster. In African culture red is sometimes represents a fighting will, black represents the people and yellow represents gold or wealth. The overall image accurately depicts through its use of color, imagery, symbolism and text the spirit of the anti-apartheid movement.

Columbia College Chicago Students

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement Collection, College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago

College Archives & Special Collections, Columbia College Chicago.

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“The oral histories are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. “ All rights remain with the creators.

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