The exhibition was brought to South Africa and incorporated the sardonic and humorous graphic designs of South Africa’s apartheid and post-apartheid era.
This acclaimed and ongoing exhibition showcases political, social, and personal concerns. The graphic works featured at the exhibition tapped on the brilliance of designs depicting accepted wisdom while challenging the status quo in the UK and the world.
The British Council in partnership with the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the South African National Gallery, Iziko Museums and the Durban Art Gallery commissioned the exhibition, which was curated by design historian and writer Liz McQuiston.
It also reflected works mainly from British designers, British advertising agencies, artists, and activists while it absorbed graphic designs and, a noticeable predominant feature of SA’s Mail and Guardian cartoon strip by Zapiro, and other works from other organisations and artists.
“I feel the works that I have seen are too political,” said a Durban youth. The youth added that some of the graphic presentation did bring enlightenment on the disparities of gender and racial imbalance in politics. An elderly man said that even though the exhibition was partly historic, most of the young people who were still toddlers at the time of the first elections did not understand the politics that were depicted in graphics. “The youth now have lost touch with their roots. They do not know the price of the democracy they now enjoy,” he said.
A booklet containing images from the exhibition highlights the essential posters and iconic images such as those of Saatchi & Saatchi’s 1979 elections’ poster slanted “Labour isn’t Working”.
The exhibition includes satirical comments to compliment images such as those in the form of Private Eye magazine covers and Spitting Image - a British satire TV show that uses puppets that look just like the real characters. Not to be missed are the grassroots graphics relating to the miners’ strike, and anti and poll tax movement. Furthermore it pushes the envelope on issues related to elections, politics, war, peace, global views, home truths, women’s liberation, ecological wars, anti-corporate and anti-globalisation movements.
The “Kick racism out of Football” campaign images and video adverts have proved to be cross-cultural for both Europe and Africa whereby black players have had to face prejudice from both their counterparts and the football European fans. A simple picture taken in 1989 captured an incident of a fan throwing a banana into the football pitch at a black player sent shock waves at how deeply the problem of racism runs in sports. Not only sports, but also issues concerning entertainment, fashion, culture, and third world debt.
Though shocking the images can be, many were relevant to the UK, and issues of global concern. There was little content on the South African front ranging from the first SA elections to date. However there were more graphic works of SA content that were designed before the first elections. In the UK the exhibition had captured issues that were brought in the forefront of debate. It will link up with media in Botswana using wit and humour that cuts across the barriers of communication. It brings issues to the fore and uses images to provoke views and comments from communities and individuals.
Graphics as media can be used to lay a platform for debatable issues in Botswana. As soon as it reaches the boarders of Botswana it can be expected to raise thought provoking issues tackling racism, homosexuality, violence against women and children, environment, war, and elections, matters about which Batswana are tight-lipped.
Like South Africa, Botswana will be expected to present some of the local satirical graphic works to feature once the exhibition opens here on March 16. Botswana may find more similarities to South Africa’s social and political satirical graphics designs, but little to compare with the UK that is still on exhibition until March 28 in Durban.
