Solidarity

9 linocuts, 49 x 66 cm

The work takes as its central topic the official politics of the Nordic countries toward, and the business ties with, South Africa during the apartheid regime.

The series of linocut prints expresses multilayered tensions between the shifts and paradigms of Nordic politics in relation to its commitment with the South African anti-apartheid movements. Through the deconstruction of the circulation and uncertainty of information, Solidarity questions the way we piece together what we think we know about Nordic political engagement and history.

Nordic countries supplied the apartheid regime with material for the military equipment as well as of newsprint, a more subtle means of upholding the regime. International solidarity groups campaigned to implement sanctions, and frustrated by the undecidedness of the governmental politics, the trade unions in all Nordic countries started boycott of goods between the Nordic countries and South Africa in 1985.

Today the Nordic countries take pride for their role in bringing the apartheid regime to it’s knees, while silencing the role working-class solidarity played it pressuring the business and the states to adhere to black South Africa’s calls for solidarity.

Linocut is a simple method of print that has been masterfully employed by leftist artists especially in the first half of the 20th Century and during the anti-apartheid struggle.