Revolution
JULY 26 - DAY OF WORLD SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN REVOLUTION, 1975
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This design promotes 26 July as a day of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionary 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959.
July 26 - Day of Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, 1969
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This design promotes 26 July as a day of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionary 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959.
CUBA - July 26 - 1968, 1968
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. From the 1960s, painter Raúl Martinez started working as a graphic designer, drawn to the social impact of posters and magazines. He was known for his portraits of well-known revolutionary icons, but to commemorate the 26th of July Movement he portrayed an anonymous Cuban patriot.
DAY OF THE WORLD SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN REVOLUTION (July 26), 1970
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This design promotes 26 July as a day of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. The revolutionary 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959.
World Solidarity With CUBA, 1980
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. They also criticised the foreign policy of the U.S.A. In this design, the Cuban flag represents the Cuban revolution repelling the U.S. military, represented by the hand of fictional character Uncle Sam.
Content warning: weaponry
Day of Solidarity with the People of GUATEMALA, 1977
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. For this poster, Alberto Blanco González used a photograph of Luis Augusto Turcios Lima taken at the 1966 Tricontinental conference. The 24-year-old was killed in a car accident later that year, but was remembered as a leader of the guerrilla group, the Rebel Armed Forces during the Guatemalan Civil War. Rather than creating formal portraits, many of OSPAAAL’s designers took inspiration from pop art and commercial advertising in their representations of political figures.
AFRICA - INTERNATIONAL WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA (May 22-28), 1970
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. This poster was issued in support of independent African nations and liberation movements, coinciding with Africa Liberation Day.
CREATE TWO, THREE...MANY VIET-NAMS, THAT IS THE WATCHWORD, 1967
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL (the Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America). Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. The first edition of OSPAAAL’s Tricontinental magazine was a special supplement dedicated to Che Guevara’s Message to the Tricontinental. His manifesto presented Vietnamese Communists opposing U.S. military forces in Vietnam as a model for patriotic resistance. It contained the only poster of the guerrilla leader made during his lifetime – Guevara was killed in Bolivia six months after its issue. OSPAAAL’s designers often used repetition of photographic as a way to create bold illustrations with limited resources. The studio’s first art director Alfredo Rostgaard said that “from the need to solve our material problems, we began to discover new forms”
GIRON - 30th ANNIVERSARY - SOCIALISM OR DEATH, 1969
Between the 1960s and 1990s, more than fifty designers worked at OSPAAAL. Based in Cuba, they made magazines and posters that were sent around the world. Their aim was to promote radical political ideas. Many of their posters celebrate socialist revolutions and liberation movements from the Global South. In 1961, a military group sponsored by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency invaded Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. Eladio Rivadulla Pérez used a press photograph of Castro jumping from a tank for his commemorative poster design.
Content warning: weaponry
