Can Art Stop a War? The Power of Posters

From the Russian Revolution to the now-decades-long war in Afghanistan, posters have been central to winning the hearts and minds of the people who pay the costs of war with their lives and their tax dollars. They also have been critical for mobilizing opposition to war. Although many predicted that paper posters would become obsolete in the digital age, they continue to be produced in great numbers.

Carol A. Wells, founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, will show how posters have been used to protest injustice and promote social change throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The talk will also highlight the long political poster tradition of appropriation and image recycling.

Wells is an activist, art historian, curator, writer, and poster collector.  In 1988, she founded CSPG, an educational and research archive in Los Angeles. Its more than 90,000 social movement posters from the 19th century to the present, include the largest collection of post-WWII posters in the U.S.  Wells believes that posters can combat public apathy and feelings of helplessness, as well as stimulating political debate.

_{This online event will be hosted on Zoom with attendees cameras off. Closed Captioning will be provided. Questions about access? Please email Salvador Muñoz, Public Programs Manager, at Salvador@posterhouse.org}