In Artivism, Casa África shows the influence of art and music in the struggle against South African apartheid

In its new exhibition, Casa África travels to South Africa to understand the key role that art and music played in the popular mobilization against the apartheid regime, which is mainly reflected through posters. Artivism gathers 48 posters made in the 1970s and 80s by various liberation and cultural groups who fought the apartheid government in South Africa. The clarity and forcefulness of the messages on the posters shows the harshness of the system, and their aesthetics show how these posters generated a space for reflection and creativity in the face of government oppression. The exhibition, which is curated by Estefanía Pereira and has had the assistance of the South African History Archive (SAHA), shows the importance that South African activists gave to posters as a tool to mobilize and sensitize the population against the racist regime.

Artivism is divided into two exhibition halls. The first hall displays the posters used for activism and popular mobilization, while the second room is dedicated to posters promoting music, which in turn also became a strong medium for protest and demand. The posters have been selected to show various aspects of the people's struggle against apartheid, all of them representative of what has become known as the South African Poster Movement.