Catalogue Number
NMLH.2023.86
Object Name
Poster
Title
Victory to the prisoners
Place
Northern Ireland
People
Bobby Sands
Events
1981 Hunger Strike
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. White poster with black imagery and black and red text; the face-up side of the poster is laminated. The poster has an image of a prison with barbed wire outside on the top left hand corner. There is large red text which says, "Victory to prisoners.' Underneath this there is additional smaller
black text reading, "Political status for Irish P.O.W.S. There is an image of a man and a woman with a clenched, raised fist and an image of a watch tower at the bottom of the poster. The smaller print reads, "Published by the Sinn Fein P.O.W Department." This poster is referencing prisoners serving sentences in Northern Ireland for Troubles-related offences. In 1972, they were granted special category status,meaning they were granted political status which meant they had some of the 'privileges' prisoners of war recieved, such as not having to wear prison uniforms. This political status was reversed in 1976, and they were to be treated like a normal criminal. There were many protests in response to this, including the 1981 hunger strike in which Bobby Sands died. Sinn Fein were prominent in the calls for release and victory of the republican Irish political prisoners.
