April 26, 2004
By Chandrea Gerber
IMAGES of defiance in our turbulent history came in many forms, and the newly opened exhibition of over 400 resistance posters at MuseuMAfricA explores one powerful tool that ordinary people used to voice their resistance to the violent oppression of the 1980s - often at the risk of their lives.
With some examples drawn from before the 1980s and some post-democracy, the exhibition, "Images of Defiance" demonstrates not only the posters' importance in the history of South African art-making, but also their role as key witnesses and agents in the process of struggle into freedom.
The resistance poster collection is also available in a book
Rasheed Seedat, MC at the exhibition's opening on 25 April and an activist of the 1980s silkscreen workshop, the Screen Training Workshop (STP), said: "Posters become a resonant part of our collective history" and continue to voice opposition to perceived injustices.
Describing the life-threatening conditions they operated under, Seedat said activists alternated between putting the posters up in the middle of the night when they faced sure arrest if they were caught, and during the day, when they could blend in with the hubbub of activity.
Another STP activist, Maurice Smithers, recounted the experience of walking into work one day, only to find an axe through the photocopying machine used in the production of revolutionary posters. "This was a clear message from the state that they didn't like what we were doing."
Smithers added: "This year is a time of recollecting and remembering. It is a celebration of the colour, images, ideas and words, and the source of the posters - the ordinary people that produced them."
"In many ways the struggle continues," he said, adding posters continue to play a role in the journey "to realise the lofty ideals of the Freedom Charter and our constitution".
Johannesburg councillor Christine Walters, representing executive mayor Amos Masondo, who was unable to open the exhibition due to flu, said the City was very proud of the exhibition, which "pays tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice on our journey to freedom".
Many of the posters were banned and a group of activists, known as The Posterbook Collective, secretly collected images and stored them in safe houses. After the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the African National Congress, the posters were presented to the South African History Archive (SAHA), and published in a seminal book, "Images of defiance: South African resistance posters of the 1980s", long out of print.
Over and above the exhibition, the book is to be re-printed with the intention of placing a copy in every public library throughout South Africa. In the foreword to the book, Mandela writes: "It is very encouraging, especially to people of my generation, to know that the ideas for which many of us have sacrificed are very much alive and embodied in this collection of posters."
The exhibition is the first phase of the JhbArtCity 2004 project, a year-long event that celebrates the symbols of the struggle towards democracy and the achievement of freedom. The second phase is a national art competition, which invites South African artists to submit paintings depicting the theme of "Freedom". Twenty paintings will be selected for display on the walls of buildings throughout the city.
JhbArtCity 2004's objective is to celebrate the decade of democracy through art, simultaneously promoting contemporary South African art and artists, and the city as a centre for art and culture. JhbArtCity 2004 is jointly funded by the City of Johannesburg and a coalition of inner city businesses, with support from business and art bodies in South Africa through the Central Johannesburg Partnership.
The curators of the exhibition are The Posterbook Collective of SAHA, part of the University of the Witwatersrand.
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