USC Annenberg presents exhibition of international posters illustrating the conflict over environmental protection Posted September 24, 2007

Contact: Geoffrey Baum, (213) 821-1491

LOS ANGELES, September 24, 2007 – The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California presents Earth, Wind & Solar: International Ecology Posters, an exhibition of political posters dating from the dawn of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s to the present. The works on display come from the archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles.

The public and press are invited to a discussion and opening reception at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2007. The exhibition runs through December 21, 2007.

USC Annenberg, in partnership with the Armory Center for the Arts, presents the exhibition in the Annenberg Gallery, on the second floor of the Annenberg School on the USC campus, 3502 Watt Way in Los Angeles. Regular viewing hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Political posters have been a primary communication tool warning of the dangers of pollution and organizing support for a cleaner and safer world. The posters in Earth, Wind & Solar illustrate the ongoing conflict between environmental protection and multinational corporate interests. Representing a variety of styles, techniques, issues, languages and regions of the world, the exhibition is a cross section of the many issues the contemporary environmental movement has brought to the fore.

“USC Annenberg is dedicated to introducing students and the community to a range of visual media,” says Larry Gross, professor and communication school director. “The political poster is a long-lived and powerful communications vehicle for arousing interest and stirring action. Among the issues on today’s public agenda, the environment is high on the list. The Center for the Study of Political Graphics has an incredible collection of ecology posters and this exhibition is an important educational opportunity, as well as an aesthetic one.”

The exhibition illuminates many of the basic human-rights issues confronting society at large, including issues of class and race. Represented in the exhibition are posters highlighting Shell Oil boycotts around the world. Another commemorates the life of Chico Mendes, whose murder in Brazil drew international attention to the destruction of the Amazon. The exhibition spans the globe, with ecology posters from Germany and Russia to the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as throughout the United States.

“Since Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring first called the world’s attention to the spreading, still-unnamed crisis, artists and organizers from Tokyo to Berlin, and from Sydney to Los Angeles, continue to use the power of graphics to organize a frontline of defense against rapidly escalating corporate pollution and environmental destruction,” says Carol Wells, executive director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics. “Posters give witness to a history of environmental struggles, prevent the issues from being forgotten by future generations, and show the vitality and importance of art in mobilizing social change. They reclaim the power of art to educate, agitate and inspire action.”

The exhibition is curated by Jay Belloli, director of gallery programs at the Armory Center for the Arts. Posters are on loan from the archives of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles.

About the USC Annenberg School for Communication
Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the USC Annenberg School for Communication (annenberg.usc.edu) is among the nation’s leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,900 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in journalism, communication, public diplomacy and public relations.

About the Center for the Study of Political Graphics
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) is a nonprofit, educational and research archive that collects, preserves and exhibits posters relating to diverse movements for social change. Its collection currently contains more than 60,000 posters produced in an array of visual styles and printing media, dating from 1900 to the present, including the largest collection of post-World War II political posters in the United States. Since 1988, the center’s exhibitions have traveled to more than 300 venues throughout the United States and internationally. For more information, visit www.politicalgraphics.org.




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