Taller Tupac Amaru

At USF's Thatcher Gallery, the collective art group Taller Tupac Amaru, is showcasing a number of their political posters spanning a decade worth of work. The mission of Taller Tupac Amaru is to try and revive the medium of screen printing through the creation of political posters as well as encourage social change. The issues covered span from immigration to Women's rights and are done in various different styles of screen printing. It is the believe of Taller Tupac Amaru, that artists and designers have the ability to use their talents to influence the public opinion and hopefully spur change.
Since we are on the subject of social change, I will delve into some readings that share the ideal of artists and designers having the power to create social change. The first reading of the week is "Mind Bombs: Woodcuts, Satirical prints, flyers, photo-montage, posters, and murals". This reading discussed the various forms of art that have been used in influencing public opinions and various social and political issues throughout time. Taller Tupac Amaru uses screen printing as it's medium of choice in spreading awareness.
The next reading was "The Citizen Designer", this reading focuses on how you engage society. It is believed that the artist and designer can do more than just create images. In fact, it can even be seen as the designer's partial responsibility to try and create change. With the Taller Tupac Amaru, they aim to try and do just that. The social and political issues worked on by the artist collective, are issues that tend to be the more prominent in today's society. By creating works that are not only colorful, but bold in graphic style, the collective has succeeded in spurring movements worldwide.