Graphic Liberation: Image Making and Political Movements

by Josh MacPhee, Avram Finkelstein (Primary Contributor), Alison Alder (Primary Contributor)

From the fight against the AIDS crisis to the struggle for Black liberation and international solidarity, Graphic Liberation! digs deep into the history, present, and future of revolutionary political image making. What is the role of image and aesthetic in revolution? Through a series of interviews with some of the most accomplished designers, Josh MacPhee charts the importance of revolutionary aesthetics from the struggle for abolition by Black Panthers, the agitation during the AIDS crisis from ACT-UP, the fight against apartheid in South Africa and Palestine, as well as everyday organizing against nuclear power, for housing, and international solidarity in Germany, Japan, China, and beyond. In twelve interviews, political designer and street artist Josh MacPhee talks to decorated graphic designers such as Avram Finkelstein, Emory Douglas, and more, focussing on each of their contributions to the field of political graphics, their relationships to social movements and political organizing, the history of political image making, and issues arising from reproduction and copyright.

Genres: Art, History

256 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2024

About the author

Josh MacPhee, artist and activist, is the founder of the Justseeds Artists Cooperative, an organization that promotes radical art forms. He is the author of Stencil Pirates: A Global Study of the Street Stencil (2004) and co-edited Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority (2007) and Reproduce and Revolt (2008). MacPhee is also the curator of the printmaking exhibition Paper Politics, which has been on tour in the United States since 2004."

Reviews

[Anneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so excited to be the first written review of Graphic Liberation!!! As I’ve been writing my comparative literature thesis about the social life of 20th c Mexican printmaking as it relates to Chinese diaspora, and concurrently developing my bfa thesis on the same topic, this book has been keeping me motivated and excited about print, as a gentle reminder that academia is not the resting place for these conversations, and that the real home of print is in the streets and hearts and minds of the people. This is a really wonderful collection of interviews from a great array of printmakers working across different causes and media. It’s hard to single out a favorite, as each interview is great in its own way. I will say though that Tings Chak’s work for The Tricontinental is something that I will continue to engage with. Her citing both the Bandung Conference and Mao’s Forum at Yenan felt like divine providence…

[Review in Progress]