|
|
|
|
BACK
TO MAIN ART GALLERY
"Free
South Africa"
Mark
Vallen 1985
Silkscreen print 17" x 21" $100.00
Vallen's 1985 print played a historic role in
the movement to liberate South Africa from white
racist rule.
The
poster was eventually included in The Path
of Resistance, an exhibition of contemporary
protest art held at New York City's Museum of
Modern Art in 2000. Organized by Joshua Siegal
and Susan Kismaric, the exhibit traced 40 years
of socially critical and politically charged
art. Vallen's poster also appeared in the film,
The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will
Smith.
There
are only a few copies of this rare silkscreen
poster available. Each one is hand-signed and
numbered by the artist. If you are interested
in acquiring the print, payment can be made
by clicking on the PayPal button below.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Artist's
statement: "I
created this poster in 1985 to support the freedom
struggle of the South African people, who were living
under a brutally racist white minority regime. Used
at anti-apartheid rallies, student occupations of
universities, and protests in front of South African
embassies all across the US - thousands
of these posters were given away, sold, and wheat-pasted
on city streets. In
1985 the administration of Ronald Reagan was openly
supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa. Nelson
Mandela was in prison and regarded as a 'terrorist'
by US policy makers. It's worth noting that US Vice
President, Dick Cheney, was in fact at the time opposed
to the release of Mandela in the 1980's. However,
people all over the world were supporting Mandela's
African National Congress (ANC) and the movement for
a free and democratic South Africa. I
was naturally overjoyed with the eventual liberation
of Mandela, the total defeat of the criminal racist
regime, and the victory of the South African freedom
struggle."
|
|
|
|
|
Vallen's
poster was used in the 1980s across the US during
massive anti-apartheid rallies. In this 1986 photo,
hundreds of protestors in front of the racist South
African Consulate in Beverly Hills, California, called
for its closure, a demand that was eventually victorious.
|
|
|
|
|
Vallen's
Free South Africa poster appears in the film,
The Pursuit of Happyness. © Columbia Pictures
|
|
|
By
special arrangement with Columbia Pictures, Vallen's
silkscreen street poster appeared in the film, The
Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. The
poster was used as set dressing to lend authenticity
to the movie's depiction of San Francisco in the 1980s.
For the full story on the poster's appearance in The
Pursuit of Happyness, read
Vallen's blog.
|
|
|
