Signal: A Journal of International Political Graphics & Culture

02/06/2023

We were very excited to interview Nafisa Ferdous for our tenth Signal:Dispatch. Nafisa is a wickedly talented illustrator, political artist, and activist who lives in NYC. Full interview is up on the blog!

31/05/2023

Thank you everyone who has contributed to our fundraising campaign for Signal:08! You all helped us reach the floor of our goal- which feels great and we deeply appreciate it!!! We still have a little over a week left on the fundraiser and every further contribution helps us get Signal out and into more hands. It's a great way to pre-order Signal:08 or to get all eight issues of Signal on deep discount or to get a full set of 's Celebrate People's History poster series--- etc! The link is still in our bio. Presented today are mock-ups of the eight proposed covers for this issue we bandied about, mostly playing with images from Dread Scott's interview and the Vera Williams/Liberation magazine feature

18/05/2023

Really enjoying the new book 'From Posada to Isotype, from Kollwitz to Catlett: Exchanges in Print Culture Germany-Mexico 1900-1968' (Reina Sofia, 2022). It is akin to getting a perfect mixtape with deep cuts. The title pretty much sums it up and it is the first text that I know of that really teases out of the connections and cross pollinations between these international political printmaking scenes. The TGP, Isotype, Posada, the German Expressionists....all printmakers and designers whose work was formative for just about everybody I know doing political prints.
A scattershot collection of images here:
1- cover with Posada and Kollwitz
2- Kollwitz
3- Leopoldo Méndez
4- TGP
5- Méndez again
6- Mariana Yampolsky
7- Charles White
8- Gerd Arntz and Isotype
9- Elizabeth Catlett
Solid writing by an assortment of authors and scholars covering a lot of new ground. Lavishly printed. It was not cheap! But on the other hand you could buy 2 or 3 cheaper books and still not quite achieve the scope of this book.

15/05/2023

Help us fund Signal:08!
"Crossing continents and communities, print and performance, Signal weaves a story of how culture is central to social transformation, both yesterday and today. Help publish the newest, eighth issue of Signal!"
Kickstarter link in our bio.
Our upcoming issue features an interview with by . An overview of the cover art of Vera Williams for Liberation magazine by .nay. Book design of Black Power texts by Andrew Fearnley. Postage stamp détournements against Sikh violence by Vijay Jodha. And plane tickets for a PFLP hijacking in 1970. Many different reward levels, including all 8 past issues for $100, CPH posters, etc
Make it happen

15/11/2022

Our newest Dispatch finds us in conversation with Katya Gritseva aka , an illustrator and activist currently in Lviv, Ukraine. "In short, I can say about myself that I am a graphic artist, a poet, a socialist, a student activist, and a risky woman." Her thoughts about art and activism during wartime and occupation, the legacy of the soviet avant garde, and more on justseeds.org

28/05/2022

A Spanish Civil War-era kids comic from the very back-pages of "Pasionaria: The Magazine of Anti-Fascist Women of Valencia" (Feb, 1937)
1- Pioneer and His Friends
2- The pioneers, as conscious militants, see that the streets appear unworthy of the great days in which we live.
3- And they realize that there are individuals in ambush who are determined to sabotage the struggle- even to make the streets and squares appear dirty and untidy. It is precisely in the vicinity of the barracks that these individuals are determined to throw litter on the ground so that it turns the people take against our soldiers
4- And here is the solution: a clearly visible poster that warns the unkempt.
5- They make a magnificent and expressive gift, so that the garbage can be swept away. "Discipline: gift of pioneers"
6- "Don't dirty the streets. Dirt is unhygienic and whoever produces it plays into the hands of fascism."
7- And the garbage should be in the dumpster.

01/05/2022

28/04/2022

‘Join Us At The Giant Anti-War March’, Attica Brigade, United States, early 1970’s. Attica Brigade was associated with Revolutionary Union (RU). From

21/04/2022

Nice cover designs:
1- International Conference of Studies on Self Management, 1979, Venice, Italy
2- Libertaria Bookshop publication, London, date unknown
3- Howard Clark Peace News Pamphlet, England, 1981?
4- Anarchismo #57, 1987, cover by Cliff Harper

15/04/2022

Images from Catalonia and Spain:
1. 'Pro-prisoner, 5 hours of rock' [Barcelona, 1979], CNT [Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]. From the digital archives of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2. Roca-Gavà: 4,500 workers on strike for 25 days. 46 dismissed 8 detained 0 sanctioned
SOLIDARITY
The workers of roca have renounced legality, and the bosses answer them with shots and blows of the Civil Guard
“The emancipation of the workers must be by themselves, or not at all”
[Spain,1977] From the digital archives of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
3. Unplug from the System!: Unite and organize: vote CJC, PCC, [Communist Party of Catalonia, 1989] From the digital archives of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
4. Sticker of former Spanish socialist president Felipe Gonzalez depicted as a riot cop (1985)

11/04/2022

Self destruction and destruction, also iconogrpaphic throughlines. The prisoner igniting gasoline, 1st version from the Italian counter-cultural monthly 'Re N**o' from 1971, remade possibly by Cliff Harper for Zero Newspaper in 1978. The Bakunin publication from the 1970s (?) with a cover based on an image from the Brazilian film 'Antonio das Mortes' or 'O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro' from 1969 written and directed by Glauber Rocha.

09/04/2022

Postage stamp memorializing the Dir-Yacine (Deir Yassine) Massacre in Palestine on April 9, 1948. Algeria, 1966.

08/04/2022

Details from street murals created following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974. Photos accompanied an article by Phil Mailer in Signal:02. Also seeing the global influence of Chile's Brigada Ramona Parra in these two examples

05/04/2022

Beautiful memorial poster about Japanese American internment. Found at the 'Serve the People' exhibit at

04/04/2022

Signal editor 's massive new show in Cleveland Ohio is open! 'We Want Everything' explores printmaking as a communal cultural practice that values copying and repurposing in place of individual authorship. This exhibition transforms Reinberger Gallery into an active maker space that mines the history of print and its connection to political activism, posters, radical music and book publishing design.
The exhibition will remain on view through June 10, at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

03/04/2022

The highly quotable but not always highly readable Jean Baudrillard.
Postcard found in the archives- ca 1970s?

21/03/2022

In our seventh Dispatch we interview the brilliant and hard working Hollie Moly from Melbourne, Australia (.moly ), who discusses making art for the labor movement, banner making, and collectivity as praxis with the Workers Art Collective ().
Full interview on justseeds.org. Link in bio.

18/03/2022

Detail from poster/mural 'Images from a Neglected Past', produced by Basement Workshop, 1978. From Signal:06 feature on Basement Workshop by Ryan Lee Wong

17/03/2022

Publications associated with Basement Workshop, an organizing space by Asian Americans in NYC that ran from 1969-1986. Details about this project were featured in Signal:06. Also, images from the exhibit ‘Serve the People’ at Interference Archive in 2014 (Signal article and exhibit curated by Ryan Lee Wong ).

1. Yellow Pearl detail, art by Tomie Arai, 1972
2. Bridge, 1972, cover art by Alan Okada
3. UNiC Expression, 1976, cover art by Tomie Arai
4. Poster art by Bob Lee, 1971

From Serve the People
5. I Wor Kuen newspaper, 1971
6 . Peter Yew police brutality protests, photos by Corky Lee, 1975

15/03/2022

Pictures this week are from Ryan Lee Wong’s article on Basement Workshop, a counter-cultural arts and organizing space for Asian Americans in NYC that ran from 1969-1986. Primarily a DIY venture, Basement Workshop used governmental arts funding to support a number of political projects, including things like publications, youth workshops, English language classes, and cultural/arts events. Details about this project were featured in Signal:06 (This article was written in conjunction with the exhibit Serve the People at Interference Archive in 2014 (curated by Ryan Lee Wong as well)).
1- Poster by Tomie Arie, 1973
2- Equality newspaper, 1977
3- Basement Workshop, early 70s, photo by Henry Chu
4- Film night
5- Poster by Christine Choy, 1976

11/03/2022

The more things change...
Freedom (London) broadsheet/sandwich board placards from Signal:02

09/03/2022

Posters from NZ's Kotare Trust archive. From Signal:04's article by Jared Davidson
1-1980s NZ
2- Kate Hill, 1982
3- Auckland Trades Council Peace Office, 1980
4- Gittan Jönsson (Sweden, 1979)

25/02/2022

A final post about the Punchclock printing collective, featured in Signal:04 in an article by aka Ryan Hayes. Issues of Signal are always available at and
Images by
1- Michael Comeau
2- Shannon Muegge
3- Michael Comeau

25/02/2022

A brief plug to Rocky Dobey, one of the members of Punchclock featured in Signal:04. Rocky has been making political art and street installations since the late 1970s and keeps a very active archive of his prodigious work over at
Check it out!

22/02/2022

Palestinian solidarity work from Punchclock collective. From Signal:04
1- Simone Schmidt
2- Simone Schmidt
3- Stefan Pilipa

21/02/2022

More work from the Punchclock Collective, active in the early 2000s in Ontario. Featured in an article in Signal:04 by
1/2- Free Shawn Brant by Simone Schmidt
3- Free Shawn Brant by Simone Schmidt
4- Logo by Shannon Muegge and Stefan Pilipa
5/6- Installation by Shannon Muegge
7- Poster by Stefan Pilipa

20/02/2022

Punchclock collective's space was constantly under pressure due to gentrification and
development. They also participated in several
campaigns in the Toronto area against displacement
and targeting specific developers and landlords.
Several members helped organize with the Ontario
Coalition Against Poverty and made many images and posters for these campaigns.
1- OCAP flag designed by Stefan Pilipa
2- by Stefan Pilipa
3- by Stefan Pilipa
4/5- by Shannon Muegge and Hunter Cubitt-Cooke
6- by Stefan Pilipa

19/02/2022

This week we're looking back at the Punchclock Collective, an art collective and printing space based out of Toronto in the 1990s and early 2000s. Ryan Hayes ( ) recorded and reflected on their actions and collectivity in Signal:04.
Images:
1- Love Who You Will by Shannon Muegge
2- Carnival Against Capitalism/Anti-FTAA by Rocky Dobey
3- Vazaleen promo by Michael Comeau
4- Ontario Coalition Against Poverty medallion by Stefan Pilipa
5- tank top by Simone Schmidt

17/02/2022

A quick plug for what looks like an outstanding two day symposium on radical SF, in conjunction with the new PM Press title 'Dangerous Visions and New Worlds' co-written by our old friend Iain McIntyre (along with Andrew Netter). Some really great presentations and speakers!
(music by lg17, creative commons, via free music archive)

05/02/2022

For our sixth Dispatch we interview the very talented Junk Comix (), who talks about the colonial and de-colonial history of comics, squatting, his forthcoming project 'Postcards from Congo' and other works of political documentary comix-making. Full interview on justseeds.org. Link in bio.