PRISON NATION -Gallery Guide

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From the Archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics Over 25 powerful exhibitions available to display at your local school, library, gallery or museum! The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) collects, preserves and exhibits posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for social change. Through its diverse programs, CSPG is reclaiming the power of art to inspire action. CSPG has more than 80,000 posters going back to the 19th century, including the largest collection of post- World War II political posters in the U.S. Through traveling exhibitions, online photo albums, internships and volunteer opportunities, CSPG actively shares this valuable resource with artists, activists, academics, curators, students and the public. CSPG's rapidly growing collection contains posters reflecting historical, cultural, geographic and ideological diversity. CSPG is unique in its efforts to share this valuable resource with a broader public. CSPG demonstrates how art can be used to educate, prompt public debate and commentary and influence social change. The donation of posters is welcome and all donations are tax deductible. Center for the Study of Political Graphics 3916 Sepulveda Blvc, Suite 103 Cuvler City, CA 90230 310.397.3100 cspg@politicalgraphics.org www.politicalgraphics.org Earth, Wind & Solar—International Ecology Posters Pollution makes the world a global village where no continent, country or neighborhood is safe. Global warming. Arsenic in drinking water. Pesticide poisoning. Environmental racism. Nuclear waste disposal. Irradiated and genetically modified food. The list is endless. Multinational corporations’ insatiable need for new markets and greater profits consistently overrides environmental concerns and few governments oppose them. But these posters convey an increasing sense of urgency as international artists continue to use the power of graphics to organize a frontline of defense against rapidly escalating pollution. Funded in part by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs Globalize THIS!—International Graphics of Resistance Trickle Down Effect, Craig Updegrove,Silkscreen, 2011, Anchorage, AK Globalization affects every aspect of life on this planet, including climate change, outsourced jobs, pollution and wars. The anti-globalization movement was dramatically announced to the world in the 1990s by two Arizona Liberty, Roy Villalobos, Offset, 2010, Chicago, IL memorable social explosions: the 1994 Zapatista National Liberation Army's (EZLN) insurrection against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the 1999 “Battle of Seattle,” when tens of thousands protested against the World Trade Organization. Since then, there have been many protests—including the ongoing Occupy Movement—and countless graphics protesting meetings where representatives of the world’s most powerful economies set agendas for the rest of the world. The posters in this exhibition are from the archives and from the streets. As ecological crises escalate, resources diminish and distribution of wealth is increasingly skewed towards the richest 1%, activists and artists throughout the world are speaking with a clarity and coherence exceeding that of most politicians. Their graphic messages are loud and clear: value people over profits, free speech over free trade and justice over inequality. Funded in part by the California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and individual donors. No Human Being Is Illegal!— Posters on the Myths & Realities of the Immigrant Experience "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…" The disparity between Emma Lazarus' eloquent promise on the Statue of Liberty and ongoing attacks against immigrants is enormous. From the Irish and Chinese who came in the nineteenth century to the Mexicans and Middle Easterners arriving now, discrimination based on race, class, language and culture has unfortunately been consistent. Whether the reason for migration is to escape war, seek asylum from persecution or pursue better economic opportunities, leaving one’s family, friends and home is never easy. These posters document diverse efforts to make immigrants’ reality closer to their hopes and dreams. Graphic Thanks to: The Andy Warhol Foundation Funded in part by the City of Los Angeles Cultual Affairs Department, the Brody Fund, and individual donors. Warning Against Warning, U.G. Sato; Pan -Pacific Committee for environmental Poster Design Exhibition Silkscreen, 1998, Toyko, Japan Subvertisements—Using Ads & Logos for Protest AIDS Crisis, Gang, ACT UP/NY, Offset, 1990, New York, NY Your Sneakers, Your iPod or Your Life—branding has never been hotter. Adults and children alike are targeted by ads and pressured by peers to buy the right clothes, the right toys and the right cars. They often pay extra for the privilege of being a walking advertisement. Many items have led to killings just to get the logo. Throughout the world, political artists are taking advantage of highly marketed advertising campaigns to bring diverse social causes to the forefront. Reclaiming the F-Word—Posters on International FeminismS The plural feminismS acknowledges and honors the diversity of international women’s movements. This exhibition documents women’s struggles, leadership and activism throughout the world and how posters are central to challenging oppressive conditions. Some posters assert the concept of “global feminism,” giving gender primacy Rural Women Unite Against Violence, Network of Rural Women's Groups, Silkscreen, no date, Sri Lanka An iPod ad becomes an image of torture in Abu Ghraib prison. Insecticide “Raid” becomes anti-immigrant spray “Fraid.” “Tony the Tiger” becomes “Frankentony.” Whether they are protesting the Viet Nam or Iraq wars, drawing our attention to sweatshop labor or opposing the use of pesticides and genetically modified foods, these posters provide an alternative view of reality. Funded in part by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles and individual donors. over other issues. Others challenge the claim that gender is a defining and unifying issue. Posters explore class, race and gender as they show women at the forefront of struggles for human rights and social change. Powerful graphics depict diverse feminist issues from the suffragettes to the activism of the 1970s to today. The family unit, childcare, labor, ecology, trafficking and violence are just some of the topics covered. By expanding the definition of feminism, Reclaiming the F-Word should inspire women and men of all ages to be proud to call themselves feminists. Funded in part by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles and individual donors. 2.
— PRISON NATION — Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex An Exhibition from the Archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics PRISON NATION—Posters on the Prison Industrial Complex fulfills the Center for the Study of Political Graphic’s (CSPG) mission to demonstrate the integral connection between art and social action. Powerful posters from artists, activists, and organizations around the country and the world, cry out against the devastating impact of the mass incarceration required to support the rapidly growing prison industrial complex (PIC). These graphics are evidence that there has never been a viable movement for social change without the arts being pivotal to conveying the ideas and passions of that movement. Grassroots efforts are more effective when strong graphics project their messages. While funding for education and the arts plummets, funding for new prisons is skyrocketing. The United States has the largest prison population in the world—over 2.3 million people behind bars—quadrupling between 2008 and 2011. The U.S. has only 5% of the world’s population yet we have 25% of the world’s incarcerated population. Another sobering statistic is that black men are imprisoned four times more often than any other group: 1 out of 3 black men, 1 out of 6 Latino men, and 1 out of 17 white men will be imprisoned at some point in their lifetime. Between 1980 and 2010, the total number of women in prison grew from 15,118 to over 112,797—a 646% increase. The number of women in prison, a third of whom were incarcerated for drug offenses, has increased at nearly 1.5 times the rate of men. These women often have histories of physical and sexual abuse, high rates of HIV infection and substance abuse. This dramatic increase in the number of imprisoned women also severely impacts their children, and almost 2 million children have a parent in prison on any given day. As one poster asks, "Have women become that much more dangerous?" California locks up more people than any other state in the U.S. and currently proposes to spend billions more to build additional prisons and jails across the state. Between 1984 and 2005, California built 22 prisons but only one addition to the University of California (UC Merced) and three California State Universities. As several posters point out, California is #1 in prison spending, but near the bottom of the country in education spending. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California must reduce its prison population to 137% of its design capacity as the lack of medical and mental health care, due to overcrowding, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, and was thus unconstitutional. Not only was there an average of one death per week caused by these deficiencies, but the Court also noted that the inmate suicide rate in California was 80 percent higher than anywhere else in the nation. To comply with the ruling, Gov. Jerry Brown implemented realignment. AB109, mandates that people with non-violent, non-serious, non-sexual offenses either be housed in county jails rather than in state prisons or be put under county probation instead of state parole. How this ultimately will work remains to be seen, but at present, the county jails are already overwhelmed and overcrowded. Each county has the choice of investing allotted realignment dollars into much needed programs that prevent people from going to prison or jail, or use it to continue tough on crime policies that will ensure the 70% recidivism rate and the excuse to build more jails. Of the state’s 58 counties, 32 currently have jail expansion projects in the works funded by AB900, the largest prison expansion plan in the history of the world. Since the 1970s, the rate of most serious crimes has dropped or remained stable, yet since 1980, prisons have been filled to double capacity. People of color, the poor, the illiterate, the mentally ill, youth, immigrants and women are the primary occupants. This phenomenal growth in the rate of incarceration is due to the war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentencing laws, conspiracy laws, the criminalization of youth, gang injunctions, inadequate legal representation, joblessness, slashing of social services, and profits made by investors and multinational corporations, like Corrections Corporation of America, GEO and AECOM, planning, building and servicing the prisons. The powerful posters in Prison Nation represent many of these issues—they document campaigns to expose horrifying conditions inside prisons; they challenge the economic and racial disparities of those most impacted by incarceration; and they record what has been a long standing, often lonely, struggle for those fighting to stop growing incarceration rates and the construction of more prisons and jails. The posters also reveal a growing awareness as contemporary poster artists around the country respond to the growing prison industry. CSPG exhibitions-to-go Prison Nation was first produced in 2006, using vintage posters from CSPG’s archive and funded by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. A generous 2012 grant from The James Irvine Foundation with additional funding from the California Arts Council, allowed CSPG not only to update the exhibition, but also to produce it in a new, more flexible traveling exhibition format called Exhibitions-to-Go. Prison Nation is the pilot project for Exhibitions-to-Go, using laminated, high quality digital reproductions to travel to venues that lack the security and environmental conditions needed to protect the vintage posters. Exhibitionsto-Go can be easily installed in non-traditional and alternative spaces including libraries, community centers, schools and even outdoor festivals. CSPG will continue to travel its vintage posters, but digital reproductions will greatly increase the potential audiences for our powerful exhibitions. During 2013/14, Prison Nation will travel to 6 venues throughout the San Joaquin Valley and the Inland Empire, areas underserved by the arts but highly impacted by California’s expanding prisons. 3. Free, Cedomir Kostovic, Offset, 2002, Springfield, MO It is sobering to note the ongoing relevancy of some of the oldest posters: Danny Lyon’s photo from the 1960s depicts prison slave labor conditions that still exist. Peg Averill’s 1980s poster states, "Capital Punishment means them without the capital gets the punishment." The text, above an image comparing lynching with the electric chair, refers both to racism and to economic disparity, and is a powerful indictment against the inequities of the past and present legal system. Although the majority of the posters come from throughout the U.S., international graphics also focus on the U.S. legal system. Posters from Australia, France, and Switzerland reveal inconsistencies between the professed democratic ideals of the American system, and the too often undemocratic practice of using the legal system to prosecute and persecute individuals whose political views challenge the U.S. government— from Sacco and Vanzetti in the 1920s to Mumia Abu Jamal now. The posters show ongoing struggles but they also record the victories that can result from years of grass roots organizing. In 1991, the Mothers of East L.A. succeeded in preventing the construction of a prison in their community. As of January 1, 2013, the shackling of incarcerated pregnant women is illegal in California. Prison Nation shows that victories are possible through educating and organizing, and posters are central to these efforts. They also show how struggles of the past continue to inform and inspire struggles of the present—as when a photo from the 1971 Attica prison uprising in New York, appears on a 2011 poster supporting the Pelican Bay hunger strike. This is the power and importance of the poster. This unique exhibition is relevant both to the community most effected by growing incarceration and to artists, activists, students, teachers, social service agencies, and community leaders. The posters in Prison Nation cover many of the critical issues surrounding the system of mass incarceration including: the death penalty, the Three Strikes law, racism, access to education and health care, the growing rate of incarceration, slave labor, divestment, privatization, torture, and re-entry into the community. They show the power of art to educate and inspire. Carol A. Wells CSPG Founder and Executive Director Mary Sutton CSPG Program Director Collection Criteria If you have posters under the bed, in the closet, basement or attic, please consider donating them to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, so that the history they tell will not be lost to future generations. All donated posters will become part of CSPG’s unique archive and will be accessible to curators, researchers and students. Criteria for posters CSPG collects: 1. All art is political, but not all art is overtly political. CSPG only collects posters with overt political content. We accept posters from all political perspectives. 2. Posters must have been produced in multiples, such as offset, silkscreen, stencil, linocut, digital print, etc.
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Page 7 and 8: Dump the Prison Stock!, Melanie Cer
Page 9 and 10: While There Is a Lower Class I Am i
Page 11 and 12: Nation GLOSSARY • Prison Nation G
Page 13 and 14: ORGANIZATIONS, SERVICES & RESOURCES

PRISON NATION -Gallery Guide

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