This exhibition, which occupies the two floors of the Gallery, proposes, through a variety of documentary and artistic material, an approach to the Black Panther Party taking as its starting point the revolutionary art of Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party (from 1967 until the dissolution of the in 1982).
The exhibition is punctuated by numerous murals that illustrate the graphic imagery of Emory Douglas on a route that is accompanied by a wide selection of radical newspapers, referential literature, posters, pamphlets, photographs, and other items of the time, including audio and video documentary material. This exhibition, whose reference matrix is the United States, touches on issues of the radical movements of the sixties and early seventies, the claims and civil rights of the African American community, the BPP – its ideology, social programs and international relations (with emphasis on events that concern the Portuguese-African liberation movements), the Black Arts Movement and finally a selection of graphic material such as posters and the Black Panther newspaper for which Emory was responsible for graphics and where he showed a new work weekly.
The graphic imagery of Emory Douglas marks a break from the representation of black people by the media of the time, which were divided between total exclusion and the reproduction of inferior social stereotypes. Emory Douglas’ illustrations give back to black people the condition of being the agent of their identity determination and the destiny of their community. Along with the empowerment function, the images created by Emory Douglas illustrate the social conditions that made the revolution an urgent need, portraying poverty and repression, which was opposed to the social support action developed by the Panthers.
Learning
Cinema
Documentary Film Cycle
— All Power to the People. Então e Agora. A arte revolucionária de Emory Douglas e os Panteras Negras
03.03 — 06.03.11
Espaço Nimas
