images | text

Abraham Cruzvillegas
Born in 1968 in Mexico City, Mexico / Lives in Mexico City, Mexico

Jens Hoffmann (JH): Tell me more about Ink & Blood: 1968–2009 (2008–9), and how it relates to your ongoing interest in the printed matter associated with liberation movements in Latin America.

Abraham Cruzvillegas (AC): It is a large collection of silkscreened prints that reproduce social revolutionary printed matter from Latin America since 1968, the year I was born. The images are reprinted in different formats—pamphlets, posters, flyers, stickers—and on varying qualities of paper, reflecting the economic environment of production in which they were made originally. I feel very strongly about the movements they reflect—their political positions, and also the iconography.

JH: They have a very unique combination of political urgency and artistic sensibility.

AC: It was in 1968 that younger people in Mexico became conscious of the catastrophic situation of society and started looking for change, adopting a very specific visual mode of criticism and discussion in the political arena. This became an important tool of dialogue, contrasting with the elegant, chic design campaign of the Olympic games that same year. I remember as a child in the subsequent years being surrounded by stencils and affiches announcing meetings and demonstrations.

JH: How do you prevent these images from just being nostalgic?

AC: Posters have been integral to social movements in all of Latin America, and the political situation in most countries has only marginally improved over the decades. These ideas and slogans are still relevant.

JH: Where did you find the material?

AC: In books, on the Internet, in archives. Arnulfo Aquino, originally one of the anonymous artists during the student movement in 1968 in Mexico, has been collecting original prints of all kinds for decades.

JH: How did you make your selections?

AC: I began with a nonspecific approach, looking at historical sources and references from around the world. Then I made a more particular selection of materials, attempting to describe the recent history of social struggle in Latin America. The formats, movements, characters, fonts, slogans, colors, and language are so wide-ranging, sometimes even contradictory. And when humor appears as a trigger for ideas and for the possibility of change, then that makes it a good candidate for my collection as well.

JH: What is a recent example of the use of such posters and flyers?

AC: Last year I went to Cali, Colombia, and saw fantastic things in the streets, salsa party posters alongside beautifully made demonstration callings. Sometimes they could even be confused with one another. In Oaxaca, Mexico, during the recent revolts against the corrupt, repressive government, the organized people—many of them very young— printed, cut, wrote, and drew their posters, banners, and stencils with very direct graphics and language. All around the world, civil, farmer, and student organizations, unions, artists, and individuals are still using cheap printed media to make known their demands and needs. And this will continue, as the world is still a long ways from full justice, freedom, and peace for everybody.