Archive: Issue No. 83, July 2004

South Africa's pickings of political posters, in their range, extent and diversity, did not come about above board _ it was in the underground that they originated. They were the natural outcome of a politically slanted environment that banned and blocked the cut-and-thrust of the thinking mainstream.

'Images of Defiance' comprises a healthy selection of posters from pre-1948 through the high apartheid years into the post-apartheid period, with an emphasis on the violent 1970s and 1980s. But are they now art, in a retro kind of a vein, having been removed by time from the political coal face?

The 1970s and 80s were a time when detention without trial was par for the course, when children were detained for political activism, and their concerned parents were compelled to set up forums of (illegal) opposition. These were heady years in which the thrill of a printing press with its potential to disseminate illegal information and propaganda to counter the status quo, was enormously appealing. Almost Brechtian in resonance, that notion of defying government ruling was sexy and potent and possible, but above all, dangerous. The stakes were high.

Curated by Jillian Carman, the exhibition draws much of its contents from the South African History Archives. Researchers involved in this project include Judy Seidman, and contributors to the initiative include Steven Sack. The images have been carefully sleeved in plastic, proverbially dusted down and spruced up to pass muster in our democratic environment.

It is wonderful that these posters were secreted away so carefully. There is a very interesting range of material here, from simplistic and awkwardly drawn images that capture the political thrust forthrightly (if in poor language and ill-conceived human anatomy), to polished images, confronting apartheid metaphorically, with a flower or a gesture of poetry (with accurate perspective and convincingly rendered human form).

These are works thrown together out of political conviction, with the blood and tears of real beliefs and hardships. These images are beautiful in their sense of urgency, and they are meaningful for us historically, having weathered the evils of apartheid.

'Images of Defiance' contains personal images and universal political statements, and the selection and installation give voice and space to everything, from appeal against the arrests of high-profiled political activist leaders to the simple plea of a mother whose son was spirited away by the Powers That Were, courtesy of pass laws or some more subtle misstep in apartheid law and values.

Also featured on this show are other materials that played an instrumental role in the discourse of resistance. These include banners, some hand-painted, some screen-printed, as well as photographs of what became known as People's Parks, improvised monuments that stood for resistance but aimed at peace in the far distance.

The exhibition's currency as an historical exercise (albeit a potently visual one) is a little debatable. The echoes of those passionate times are tangible in the large downstairs exhibition space at MuseumAfrica. Reading the wall texts, and looking at the improvised images and contexts is a moving experience. It is upon this blood and those guts that this country's democracy was built. This in turn gives the work a sense of political interest and for this reason, visual currency.

Until July 31