The Global Studies Department at City College has partnered with two local artists to present “Serigrafía y Solidaridad,” an exhibition featuring their screen-printed posters that address social and political movements for liberation.
Former City College student Eddie Lampkin, known as Printingainteasy (PAE), and artist Gilda Posada have brought 15 of their screen-printed posters to the third floor of the City College library, the Learning Resource Center. Each poster shows a different message about social justice and solidarity around movements involving Palestine, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The exhibit will run through May 13.
Screen printing has been a popular medium used by artists and activists since the 1960s as a quick and easy way to disseminate messages. Serigrafía is Spanish for silk-screen printing. Posada recognizes the United Farmworkers and their use of posters during their fight for fair wages and working conditions as an inspiration behind her work.
PAE and Posada met in 2009 at Taller Arte del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA), where Posada helped PAE hone his screen-printing skills. TANA brings together the Chicana/o Studies Program at UC Davis with the Woodland community in arts education, Chicano and Latino art exhibitions and a screen-printing studio. During their time at TANA, PAE and Posada quickly realized their shared desire to create art to promote social change.
“We were just out there trying to formulate and politicize a little bit because a lot of times people think, ‘I’m not political,’ but our existence is completely political to other people,” Posada said of her partnership with PAE. “So getting people to realize those things and put them in the form of a drawing is mostly what we did.”
PAE collaborated with Riad Bahhur, the current Global Studies coordinator at City College and his former professor, to create the current exhibit for Posada and his posters. PAE expands on his pieces featured at City College in another show that is now available at the Latino Center of Art and Culture. Bahhur was eager to bring PAE and Posada’s work to the school, knowing the impact the 15 posters could have.
“The world is quite small,” Bahhur said. “I like to connect local people to global ideas to show we are all interconnected.”
To speak about their work, PAE and Posada hosted an art talk at City College on Monday, April 22. They discussed the exhibit and shared insights into the process behind creating their screen-printed posters. The event started with a fusion of Arab and Mexican food, curated by chef and owner of Meza California, Kasandra Kachakji, to celebrate the fusion of culture in the posters from PAE and Posada.
Before a demonstration on screen-printing a poster, PAE and Posada spoke of what inspired them to create the pieces on display. Posada indicated that her posters’ imagery and symbolism will connect most with people. PAE reflected on his hope for his posters, which feature calls for the liberation of the Palestinian people.
“I wanted to highlight certain movements that have synergy and solidarity. I wanted to highlight specifically, the contributions of women on these global struggles,” PAE said. “My coursework was really influential in shaping my viewpoint, knowledge and the struggles that people go through. And that’s what brings me here today.”
