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"Chavez es el Pueblo"
Silkscreen
2004, Oakland
Developed as part of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics 15th Anniversary Portfolio.
AUGUST 2004: VICTORY has been declared in Venezuela through honoring the people's will, which overturned a proposed removal of democratically-elected president Hugo Chavez by a 58% to 41% margin!!
The voting took place on Sunday Aug 15th with enormous turnout all over the country. The passion & massive-beyond-belief participation & grassroots organization of the campaigning and voting process was one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen in my life! We were able to film the entire process, mostly in the barrio of 23 de enero, a poor neighborhood with a long history of revolutionary struggle. People waited in line for up to 12 hours, withstanding sun & rain, to exercise their sacred right to vote. The abstention rate dropped from 40% in the precious elections to 20%.
More than 400 Election Observers came from all over the world, many from Latin Americam including state senators and ex-presidents, and declared this the most advanced electoral system in the region today.
The preliminary results were declared at 4 am on Monday Aug 16, four hours after the last vote was cast. The celebrations continue in the capital city of Caracas.
The Venezuelan opposition is calling the referendum results a fraud, but even the Carter Center and the OAS observers said in a press conference yesterday that they had could not find ONE SINGLE CASE of fraud! (Carter also said it was the most massive turnout for a vote that he had ever seen).
The Venezuelan opposition privately owns most of the media, including TV stations. Their coverage and opinions are also being validated by the US & international media coverage of the referendum in spite of their highly unethical slandering.
But the Victory is no surprise. Venezuela is building an exemplary model of democracy based on "massive & conscious participation" and is using profits - for the first time in Venezuelan history - from the oil industry to fund broad social development programs including a literacy campaign, food sovereignty projects, community-based medical care, indigenous land rights, general urban & rural land reform, cultural programs, and more.
As we walked in the streets here talking to people, it was immeditately evident that those who support Chavez know exactly why. They are being included in the design of their nation for the first time, they are involved and inspired! They are buiding a just nation where wealth generated from national resources is being used to benefit all, and the love and energy of each is called forth.
Without support from Washington, the Venezuelan opposition would be no threat to these gains and would probably whither away as the country develops & improves. We in the US must fight to defend Venezuela’s independence & self-determination, and guarantee the survival of this amazing model of a State that actually includes and answers to its people. We must also fight to bring these examples home to our own communities and nation!
-This news piece was written by Catherine Murphy |
"Housing Is A Human Right
La Tierra Es Para Quien La Trabaja"
Silkscreen
December 2003, Oakland
This poster was printed for Just Cause Oakland in Oakland, CA and St. Peter's Housing Committee in San Francisco. The two organizations organize tenants to fight for their rights and the rights of all people in need of land and housing.
The artwork shows images of gentrification and resistance. While poor people of color in the San Francisco Bay Area has been hard hit by skyrocketing real estate values, they have also been on the front lines of resistance. Members of St. Peter's and Just Cause have picketed, protested, won ballot initiatives, stopped evictions and rent increases, and even engaged in civil disobedience to stop the wave of gentrification that has swept the area.
Both organizations believe that housing is a human right, not a privilege that should depend on how much money someone makes.
The art also depicts the famous quote by Emiliano Zapata, "Land for they who work it." Although this quote originally applied to campesinos, or farmworkers, these housing rights organizations believe it also applies to the city. The gardeners, busboys, coffee servers, and housecleaners of the Bay Area are part of what makes the land so valuable. So the land should belong to them. |
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"Malcolm X"
Silkscreen
September 2005, Oakland
"If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country." - Malcolm X
This poster was developed for Center for the Study of Political Graphics's 2005 award celebration. I developed it as a reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Both my art partner, Jesus Barraza, and I were honored at this event with the prestigious "Art is A Hammer Award". In the past, this award has been given to artists such asMalaquias Montoya, the Guerilla Girls, and Barbara Carrasco. We were honored with this award for our success with the Taller Tupac Amaru. Since the inception of the Taller in 2003, and through October 2005, Jesus and I have produced over 56 political posters.
One of the other awardees was Sandra Levinson, founder of the Center for Cuban Studies, based in New York. Her organization promotes the artwork of Cuban artists. As someone who has been tremendously inpsired by Cuban political poster, meeting Sandra was a great inspiration. In 1991, Sandra's organization spearheaded a successful lawsuit against the US Treasury Department, which made the importation and sale of original art from Cuba legal. |
"Community Control of the Land"
Silkscreen
November 2002, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles
Housing is a human right. The fight for land and housing is one that dates back to over 500 years, beginning with the rape of Indian land by Spanish colonizers, the theft of Mexican territories, the racist policies that prohibited African and Indian people from owning land. Today many working class communities are at the mercy of big business, which exploit the land for profit and destroy communities. The basic demand for community control of the land, which was set forth by our revolutionary predecessors throughout the civil rights movement, is still relevant to us today.
This piece was commissioned by Strategic Actions for a Just Economy & Center for the Study of Political Graphics. The Figueroa Corridor in downtown Los Angeles is in a battle with city redevelopers and big business over what is to be done with the land. This poster served as a testament to the community's struggle and as a tool to mobilize tenants. I was one of seven artists invited to create a poster documenting the housing crisis. The six other artists were Jerolyn Crute, Mark "Memphis" Young, Ricardo Mendoza, Weston Teruya, Garland Kirkpatrick, & THINK AGAIN (David Attyah, Shelly Bachman). |
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Black & White Stickers |
"7 Years of TEN12"
Silkscreen
December 2002, Oakland
This poster was created to announce our first retrospective exhibit (Asian Resource Gallery), La Nueva Grafica: 7 Years of Ten 12, featuring the political graphics of myself and my comrade, Jesus Barraza. The retrospective exhibit featured hundreds of graphics that carried on a Bay Area tradition of designing and printing socially conscious art for progressive political causes.
Below is an excerpt from our artist statement:
"We are surrounded by corporate media that influences our decisions about everything we wear, everything we eat, and everything we buy. What do you see when you watch TV? You see primarily white men and white women; you see the clothes you want; the body you want; the car you want. We are constantly fed messages to spend money, as everything we see has the blatant intent to make us buy something. TEN12 is not in the business of crass commercial advertisement, which is, unfortunately, one of the principal uses of graphic design. TEN12 is in the business of education and liberation. We create images and graphics that oppose the dominant culture. We create images about the issues that our people face day in and day out on the streets. Our people are third world immigrants that are struggling to make money on non-unionized jobs, while their children go to schools that don't teach useful or meaningful skills. Our people are Black, Latino, Asian and Native youth in the barrios who are trying to build a positive life for themselves, while the police harass them because they fit a stereotyped profile. These are the kinds of people you will never see on TV..." |
One Land, One People: Image of a Zapatista rebel. Developed for Youth Together's One Land, One People Collaborative based in Oakland, California. |
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Black & White Stickers |
Black & White Stickers |
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Black Power : Image of a woman of the Black Panther Party. Based on a photo of a large protest in front of the Oakland Courthouse during Huey Newton's trial. |
Libertad: Based on a photo of protest in Los Angeles against the war. |
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"Hermano Kyang Hae Lee"
Silkscreen
October 2003, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles
On September 10, 2003, Kyang Hae Lee, a 56-year old South Korean farmer, died after stabbing himself in protest of the World Trade Organization (WTO), a global trading institution that has been leaving farmers hopeless and desperate, and silently killing them the world over. Lee was among the 120 Korean farmers who courageously rammed a dragon structure into the chain-linked fence barricade heavily armed with police and military separating civil society from the official WTO meeting. After the barricade fell, Lee climbed to the top and stabbed himself in the chest. He was rushed to the hospital and died soon after.
Lee's death marked the nature of the serious crisis and situation facing Indians, small farmers, migrants and would-be migrants, land workers, and inner city communities. Lee joined the thousands of farmers who traveled continents to protest the dead end that the WTO presents, signaling to the rest of the world that he was willing to sacrifice his own life--thousands of miles away from his family and his people--instead of silently suffocating under the harsh rules of the WTO.
Lee's death, however saddening and sombering, was not seen as being done out of desperation or in vain. Poetic slogans, such as "Lee hermano, ahoras eres mexicano," ("Lee our brother is now Mexican") and other ceremonies, confirmed how his self-sacrifice only meant a greater commitment and a call to others to not only stop and dismantle the WTO, but also to make another world possible.
This piece was executed as part of Self Help Graphics' Treinta Años: 30 Years of Chicano Printmaking and Social Justice, a two-part exhibition and panel discussion examining the Chicano printmaking legacy. | | |
