In this exhibition, West will show works from the early years of the party that were used for the promotion and campaign of the Black Panther Party. Douglas’ works and his appeal for revolution form a major framework to have a critical look at current times.
Douglas’ most trenchant images generated aversion due to the fierce violence, but also attraction, by depicting the idea of effective self-defense.īoth in the US and in the Netherlands, institutional and everyday racism is still the cause of social and economic inequality between various groups in society. The newspaper and Douglas’ drawings contributed to the battle for freedom by showing the brutal reality of life in the American ghettos, as well as the confrontation with the oppressors.
His energetic style managed to illustrate the appalling social position of the Afro-American community in a respectful and empathic way. He constructed a visual mythology which helped to transform a group that felt completely powerless into an politicized and militant community. The characteristic feature of Douglas’ style is the powerful way in which he manages to convey the Afro-American community that was still oppressed at that time. As it were, art was the right tool for activism it informed people about the problems and the necessity for a revolution. One of the major purposes was the creation of a common language, and art formed an essential part of this. Together with other members, he created art for the newspaper, for posters and other printed matter. For more than ten years, the Black Panther Party published a newspaper, which was produced by Douglas. For Douglas, art and activism formed part of each other. The party offered resistance to racism, police brutality and social inequality in the US, in that period during which Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and others were killed. Their battle cry ‘All power to the People!’ did not lose its strength and is actually still in full force.įrom 1967 until the seventies, Douglas worked as the Communications expert for the Black Panther Party. The party was fully aware of the fact that visual culture is of major importance for the transfer of the political message. His iconic works are symbol of the Afro-American situation during the sixties and seventies in the United States, and the struggle for change. As the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, Emory Douglas became responsible for all the graphic and visual design.
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