New Right-wing Movements in the International Posters

Abstract

New Right-wing Movements in the International Posters

ew posters promote the historical memory of social struggles in the face of the international wave of oppressive, anti-feminist, homophobic, racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-ecological discourses. Through various artistic languages, their discursive power and visual impact reawaken multiple aesthetics. In some cases, typographic play predominates; in others, figuration, abstract art, and, in most, a combination of visual and textual discourse. In all cases, the graphic action proposes different temporalities to take over the streets and networks.

From Cuba, the threatening silhouette of Donald Trump carries the word "imperialism" in a play between image and text, connecting with the poster by Ecuadorian designer Maus, where Soviet avant-garde elements resurface in its forms, colors, and typographic composition alongside the idea of "popular resistance." Another emblematic antifascist slogan, "Not one step back," is also taken up by Chilean illustrator Claudio Romo Torres in the insurrectional scenario of 2019: "Chile awakened." The fierce repression of that year is materialized in another poster, which points to the brutal and systematic practice of mutilating eyes, carried out in many countries in the region. "Negro Matapacos: patron saint of protests and street dogs" recovers a religious iconography, also present in the transnational image of Marielle Franco as a martyr surrounded by an aura of secular sainthood. In Europe, the feminist call against global fascism directly refers to propaganda posters from the Spanish Civil War alongside Meloni, Abascal, Le Pen, Milei, Orban, and Chikli. The formation of the Nouveau Front Populaire also brought, this year, an impressive graphic campaign that united various sectors of society. Between the past and the present, explicit references to Léon Blum and the legacy of different revolutionary struggles, inaugurated by the French Revolution. Finally, the commemorative date of the Carnation Revolution, carried out in Portugal in 1974, is updated by Marta Teives' poster alongside the powerful anti-dictatorial cry of "Nunca más," amplified across the globe.

Text and curation by María Inés Afonso Esteves and Magalí Andrea Devés.