On View
Visual Arts Gallery
Exhibition
Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.
Created by
Cowans, Adger W., American, born 1936
Date
1980
Medium
ink on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 35 1/8 x 23 in. (89.2 x 58.4 cm)
Caption
Adger Cowans is a member of AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), a collective dedicated to creating positive and culturally relevant art for African Americans and other Africans in the diaspora. In 1977, the group created and exhibited a series of artworks to protest the 1976 massacre of hundreds of high school students in Soweto, South Africa. Police officers attacked the students while they peacefully protested the mandatory replacement of native tongues with Afrikaans and English as the primary instructional languages.
In 1980, Cowans created SOWETO, a poster made after an etching based upon his original 1977 painting of the same name. He incorporated the phrase “SO WE TO” to represent the unified struggle of human beings, across time and place, and against the forces of racism and oppression.
Description
A poster print of an original print by Adger Cowans. The black and white work depicts an abstracted face rendered through a multitude of finely etched diagonal and horizontal black lines. The eyes are depicted by thin slits, the nose by a vertical line with two oval-shaped nostrils, and the mouth an "o" shape. Along the bottom edge of the image, below the figure's chin, black letters against white background spell out [ SO WE TO]. The poster has a white border with wider margins at top and bottom. Below the image, handwritten by the artist in gold colored ink is a circle letter [c] at lower left corner, the title ["SOWETO"] at center, and the artist's signature and date [Adger Cowens- / 80-] at lower right corner. There are no further marks or inscriptions, front or back.
Place depicted
Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa
Classification
Visual Arts
Movement
Anti-apartheid movements
Type
photomechanical prints
Topic
Africa
Art
Resistance
Violence
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Adger W. Cowans
Object number
2014.101
Restrictions & Rights
© Adger Cowans
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd540a8586d-ced1-4bcb-b1c0-bd10c1f06261

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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