Emory Douglas on the Page
On the westernmost street in West Oakland, in a warehouse-turned-art gallery known as the Black New World, a meeting inspired by arts and politics occurred on June 7th that would have turned Hoover's COINTELPRO on its ear. Fred Hampton, Jr. of the Prisoners of Consciousness Committee and Emory Douglas, lead propagandist and master political cartoonist of The Black Panther Party served up heaping spoonfuls of knowledge to a small but eager crowd. In attendance was Yuri Kochiyama, Japanese American political activist from the days of Malcolm X to now, and a contingent of Native American activists who invited both Hampton and Douglas on the sacred long walk, a remembrance of the forced relocations of their people.
For those unfamiliar with Emory Douglas's work, artist Sam Durant recently edited and published Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas. The Forward by Danny Glover, the preface by Bobby Seale, and the host of famous author essays sprinkled throughout the book do nothing more than validate what most who witness Douglas's work already know; Emory Douglas's art is the symbolic representation of the Black Panther Party. But to examine the work indicates not only a strong connection with the party but also with notions of informative, provocative art dealing with symbols of oppression. While soviet propaganda dealt with the reinforcing of the group ego's struggle for power, Douglas's art implicates the erroneous assumption of oppression as normative.
Those looking for more Emory Douglas will want to be at the SF8 rally in San Francisco on June 18. His next book signing will be in L.A. at Eso Won Bookstore on June 23. For those who don't have access to the Black Panther archives and are interested in revolutionary arts, the Emory Douglas book is a good primer.
19 June 2007