PROPAGANDA III WORLD TOUR // opens at the PHOENIX HOTEL in SAN FRANCISCO on JULY 4

There has never been a movement for social change without the arts—music, poetry, theater, posters—being central to that movement. Political posters are powerful historical documents reminding us of worldwide struggles, past and present, for peace and justice. Communication, exhortation, persuasion, instruction, celebration, warning: graphic art broadcasts its messages through bold images and striking designs.

All art is political, but not all art is overtly political. Protest posters flaunt their politics to generate awareness or controversy. Raw and aggressive or polished and sophisticated, political posters are the graphics of dissent against existing injustices. Slapped on walls surreptitiously, often at great risk, by collectives and anonymous individuals, or carefully fashioned by recognized artists in well-equipped studios, protest posters communicate instantly and directly to both literate and non-literate viewers.

Like all art, political posters stir emotions and reflection. They can deepen compassion and commitment, ignite outrage, elicit laughter, and provoke action. Transmitting and promoting the ideals, hopes and dreams of millions who have dared to raise their voices in protest, political posters empower and propel diverse movements for social change.

After PROPAGANDA III travels the world, the posters will be given to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), the only activist poster archive in the world. CSPG is an educational and research archive that collects, preserves, documents, and circulates domestic and international political posters generated from historical and contemporary movements for social change. CSPG’s growing archive currently contains more than 60,000 domestic and international posters produced in a staggering array of visual styles and printing media, dating from the Russian Revolution to the present. With 95% of the archive dating from the 1960s to the present, CSPG maintains the largest archive of post World War II political posters in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

In many cases, posters are the only record of certain historical events that would otherwise go untold. Though produced in multiples, often with urgency and by any means available – offset, lithograph, silkscreen, linocut, stencil, woodcut, photocopy, or laser—few copies survive. CSPG is making these rare and fragile primary resource documents available to activists, artists, students, teachers and researchers around the world through traveling and online exhibitions, lectures, publications, and workshops. Through its diverse programs, CSPG is reclaiming the power of art to educate and inspire people to action.