Sister Corita’s Summer of Love Exhibition Review

Image source: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2008.8

Sister Mary Corita, also known as Corita Kent (1918–1986), was an artist, educator, and advocate for social justice. At age 18 she entered the religious order Immaculate Heart of Mary, eventually teaching in and directing the art department at Immaculate Heart College. Kent was at the forefront of a movement by the Catholic Church in the 1960s to make the church more modern and relevant in modern society. Her art was one of the most successful methods of doing so, exhibiting a marriage of pop culture and contemporary issues with messages of faith and the power of God at a critical period of political unrest.

Kent’s work incorporates advertising images and slogans, popular song lyrics, biblical verses, and literature. Throughout the 1960s her work became increasingly political, urging viewers to consider poverty, racism, and injustice.[1] These political messages in her art reflects on the serious issues of the time, including the civil rights movement, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War.[2]

One of Kent’s screen-printed pieces displayed in the exhibition Sister Corita’s Summer of Love is a powerful protest against the Vietnam War, titled “Stop the Bombing” 1967. The bold and powerful statement, “Stop the Bombing” is distorted and slanting, representative of the perverted nature of the Vietnam War. The poetic words that sit in the striking red block deliver a sense of helplessness. The handwritten-style words comment on the news, further advocating the unrelenting impact these issues have on the world. Kent conveys a message of hope for civil rights and an end to the Vietnam War.

Transcribed text:
Stop the Bombing
I am in Vietnam – who will console me?
I am terrified of bombs, of cold wet leaves and bamboo splinters in my feet, of a bullet cracking through the trees, across the world, killing me – there is a bullet in my brain, behind my eyes, so that all I see is pain
I am in Vietnam – who will console me?
from the six-o-clock news, from the headlines lurking on the street, between the angry love songs on the radio, from the frightened hawks and angry doves I meet a war I will not fight is killing me –
I am in Vietnam – who will console me?

Kent’s aim was to make her work as democratic as possible. “It’s why screen-printing was her medium of choice,” says Ray Smith director at the Corita Art Center. “She wanted her work to be low priced and accessible. It was everywhere.” [3] Kent’s philosophy directly correlates to that of the Australian community arts collective RedPlanet, advocating parallel issues to Kent, like the Vietnam War, through the screen-printed poster. The main goal driving both Kent and RedPlanet was a mode of creative and political expression that generated a direct and bold political message, rather than one of self-expression. Screen printing made it possible for both parties to explore the idea and belief that, as a matter of principle, it was everybody’s right to participate in the shaping of the world in which they lived.[4] The production of these highly charged political posters were created by two different organisations, in two different countries, across two different periods of time, both existing in and responding to relevant social and political issues, with the common conviction that art can be produced collectively to make political statements and influence social action.

Kent’s work reflects the dynamism and issues of the times in which she lived, while maintaining and communicating a sense of optimism and hope. Despite being made over 50 years ago her messages of resistance and opposing injustice remain incredibly relevant for the world today and continue to speak to contemporary audiences.

[1] “The Corita Art Center.” Corita Kent. http://corita.org/about-corita

[2] “Sister Corita’s Summer of Love.” Right Now. March 01, 2017. http://rightnow.org.au/review-3/sister-coritas-summer-love/

[3] “The Poster Art of Sister Mary Corita Kent.” KCET. June 15, 2015. https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/the-poster-art-of-sister-mary-corita-kent?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=artbound

[4] Tsara, Olga. “The Art of Revolution Political Posters in the RedPlanet Archive.” The La Trobe Journal, 2005, 94-112.

Punk, Pistols and Politics

Image source: http://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/sex-pistols-artwork/

The Punk movement is often viewed as a youth culture based on teen adolescence angst. However, Punk as a subculture goes much further than rebellion and fashion as punks generally seek an alternative lifestyle divergent from the norms of society.[1] The history of Punk subculture culminated from a tumultuous period of social, cultural, and political restructuring in the United States and Britain, including economic crisis and deindustrialization, the decline of movements for social change in the 1960s, and the growth of ultraconservative political forces.[2]

Punk represented a direct blow to the establishment, a statement against the political, social and artistic status quo. Its growth was fast, and its epicentres were London and New York, although it did appear in other areas. A crucial element of punk was the aesthetic. Punk artists were self-aware of the political, social and cultural statements they were making with their overall appearance and attitudes. If the 1960s saw a flourishing hippy community, with its anti-war world view, its emphasis on pacifism and free love, Punk adopted violence as the defining element. This violence was verbal, fiscal, conceptual and intellectual. Violence impregnated the music and the art produced by Punk bands. If the mainstream commercial music was played by talented musicians, often reaching levels of technical skill, Punk was designed to be the exact opposite: anyone could do it, and there was no need to achieve artistic excellence. In stark contrast to anything previously attempted in the music industry, Punk’s style was defined by “Do It Yourself”. If anyone could buy a guitar, anyone could form a band. If anyone could draw, anyone could be a designer. This became a naively manual culture, where lack of resources became a virtue, and lack of polished typography became a style itself.[3] Graphic design historian and scholar Steven Heller offered a succinct explanation of Punk’s style as “a raw expression of youth frustration manifested through shocking dress, music, and art. Punk’s naive graphic language – an aggressive rejection of rational typography that echoes Dada and Futurist work – influenced designers during the late 1970s who seriously tested the limits imposed by Modernist formalism”.[4]

In terms of aesthetics, Punk can be greatly attributed to designer Jamie Reid, author of the visual imagery of the Sex Pistols. Reid’s style, full of images, collages and in-your-face statements was provocative and rebellious, as he intended: “I saw Punk as part of an art movement that’s gone over the past hundred years, with roots in Russian agitprop, surrealism, Dada and Situationism.”[5] Reid’s repertoire included cut-out images, solarized photographs, photocopies, typographies stolen from newspapers, irregular, collage, disorganized, out of style, and all of this combined with bright, urban and provocative colours. Reid designed a promotional poster for the Sex Pistols album “Anarchy in the UK” in 1976. This distressed Union Jack flag image did not actually appear on the 7″ single sleeve, the single was originally issued in a plain black sleeve. The torn Union Jack flag is not only bold and direct, it is held together with safety pins, representing a clear intention of being disruptive and a message of rejection to the establishment. The borrowed letters from newspaper typography, reading “Sex Pistols” and “Anarchy in the UK”, is attached by Bulldog stationery clips strongly emphasising the do-it-yourself attitude. This was the first Sex Pistols design to use a Union Jack flag.

Punk is viewed as a movement that had the ability to capture a message that rejected the establishment, a passion for ugliness, a deviation from the mainstream and the do-it-yourself notion, a masterpiece disguised as a complete lack of artistry.

[1] Moran, Ian P. (2010) “Punk: The Do-It-Yourself Subculture,” Social Sciences Journal: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 13. Available at: http://www.tezu.ernet.in/dmass/CBCT/Punk.pdf

[2] Moore, Ryan. (2004) “Postmodernism and Punk Subculture: Cultures of Authenticity and Deconstruction.” The Communication Review: 7, no. 3: 305-327. Available at: http://www.stevenlaurie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/moore-punkauthenticity.pdf

[3] Medel, Ismael Lopez. (2014) “No hope, no future, no design. Punk Design, Jamie Reid and the Sex Pistols.” Creativity & Society, 1-27. Available at: http://www.creatividadysociedad.com/articulos/22/13_Lopez.pdf?.pdf?.pdf

[4] Heller, Steven. (1993) “Cult of the ugly” Eye Magazine, Vol. 3, Iss. 9. Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/cult-of-the-ugly

[5] Guffey, Elizabeth E. (2006) Retro: The Culture of Revival. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. Page 141.