Paper Trail

Images courtesy Center for the Study of Political Graphics

L.A. Soweto Same Problem, 1993
Francisco Garces, silk-screen, Los Angeles

Francisco Garces was a Venice High School student taking a silk-screen class from Joann Carrabbio and Marco Elliott. The class was underwritten by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

How Long Did It Take To Loot South Central L.A.?, 1992
Guerrilla Girls, offset, New York

The Guerrilla Girls are feminists, activists and aesthetic provocateurs who wear gorilla masks in public and produce graphics that, among other things, challenge government policy.

Kill, 1992
Rudy Martinez, Self-Help Graphics & Art, silk-screen, Los Angeles

Incaged Rage, 1991
Thomas Vercher, Los Angeles

As an African-American growing up in L.A., Thomas Vercher lived through both the Watts (1965) and the Rodney King uprisings. A Vietnam veteran, former Black Panther Party member, part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and now a Buddhist, Vercher has repeatedly been pulled over and searched by police.

White Men Can't Run the System, 1992
Lalo Alcaraz, Self-Help Graphics & Art, silk-screen, Los Angeles

Alcaraz titled this silk-screen after the movie White Men Can't Jump, which also opened in 1992.

Rodney Channel, 1992
Artist unknown, photocopy, Southern California

While researching posters for an exhibition opposing racism and anti-Semitism, Rabbi Leonard Beerman suggested that it also include examples of hate imagery. Center for the Study of Political Graphics contacted the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta, one of the main anti-Klan groups in the U.S. The graphics provided by CDR were produced by the KKK, Aryan Nation and other white supremacist groups throughout the U.S. According to CDR, a majority of neo-Nazi and white supremacist graphics are produced in Southern California. Of the numerous examples that were sent, many were signed "A. Wyatt Mann" or "A.W. Mann" and carried (714), (213) and (818) telephone prefixes.

Stay Tuned, 1992
Pat Gomez, Self-Help Graphics & Art, silk-screen, Los Angeles

In response to the destruction she saw around her, Pat Gomez juxtaposed her direct experience of the smoky streets with the same incident filtered through television reportage.

See PULPit for more Riot poster history featuring Robbie Conal

To see more posters and information about political graphics, please visit CSPG.