Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.77.1
Object Name
Poster
Title
We are often told that the Europeans 'discovered' us
Date
1972-1982
Description
The Poster Collective was a collective formed in 1971 at the Slade School of Art,  a group formed to initially produce posters in response to the miners strike and on the wars in both Vietnam and Ireland. It was formed on the basis of developing a coherent visual style, which addressed the political issues of the time. This included the armed struggles against colonialism in Africa, the struggle of women for equal rights and the continuing struggle against racism. The collective was active in the 70's and 80's, producing posters on a wide range of issues, including for educational purposes. The group was not-for-profit and used a variety of hand-printing techniques to create their posters. This poster is part of a set, "Whose World is the World?", comprising of twelve that were created for schools. The set depicts a different view of history and puts forward ways of understanding the basis for the development of Western economic power over the last 400 years. It was produced in 1979.
This poster is the first in the set. It is green with yellow text, black photographic images, and a large yellow and blue globe showing the outline of the continents. Text coming from a speech bubble reads: "We are often told tht before the Europeans 'discovered' us, we were uncivilised savages. This is not true." Yellow text on the main body of the poster reads: "Before the Europeans had sailed far enough to find out that the world is round- great civilizations and peoples were thriving in lands such as India, Africa, the Americas and China... / These people kept animals and farmed the land. They planned and built magnificent buildings. They made beautiful sculptures and paintings. Many of them had developed their own languageinto written form. They had their own traditions and ways of looking at the world. They had their own systems of government and law." Photographs include arcitechture, artworks, and sculpture from Peru, Egypt, New Mexico, China, North Africa, Nigeria, and India
from 200 BC to the 1600's. The side of the poster says "Designed by the poster collective. Distributed by the Institute of race relations."
Multimedia
