Taller Tupac Amaru

Last week we had the exciting opportunity of hearing Jesus Barraza, Melanie Cervantes, and Favianna Rodriguez of Taller Tupac Amaru speak about their show on display in the Thacher Gallery this month. As well as being a really visually striking and beautiful body of work on display, it was a really timely and first-hand example of the power that images and visual culture can hold over matters of social change. I found Melanie's example of her poster backing the revolution in Egypt to be such an inspiring example of this. By simply creating a image about this issue she had read about, and posting it online, she created a visual identity that supported the cause of large numbers of people that reached around the world within days. Seeing this unifying image in photos of both protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge and across the world in Asia and the Middle East within days of each other created a unity and bond for the cause that would have been impossible otherwise. I found that story to be very inspiring, and a great example of just how powerful an image can really be. (This was the poster:)

I think my favorite pieces were Favianna's though, and I really enjoyed her talk as well. She had a lot to say in person (I wish it could have gone on longer for her!) and it really shows through in her work. I had previously heard about her work with Migration is Beautiful, and had seen some of the striking butterfly imagery previously and really enjoyed it. I felt like her pieces stood apart, and because of their distinct style had a little more impact for me than the others. I think as a collection overall though, the show is a really powerful one, and a great example of modern political poster art that is taking a serious stance on social issues.