Existing comment:
Rupert García
born French Camp, California 1941
¡LIBERTAD PARA LOS PRISONEROS POLITICAS!
1971
screenprint on paper
Gift of the Margaret Terrazas Santos Collection, 2019.52.2
García created several posters demanding the release of scholar and activist Angela Davis after she was famously jailed and prosecuted for several crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder. In what would become his signature approach to portraiture, García zooms in on the subject's face and applies color in an abstract way. He prominently portrays Davis's iconic Afro, which made her into a recognizable symbol of the Black Power movement. To convey Chicanos' solidarity with Davis and her advocacy for prison reform, García added "Liberty to all political prisoners!" in Spanish. His language choice made his message accessible to Spanish-speaking people. |