Propaganda: Hull Rock Against Racism Poster Exhibition 1979-1982
An exhibition of posters commissioned as part of Wilberforce 2007 Hull’s commemorations of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade – shows a part of Hull's history in the fight against racism.
Project Lead: Richard Lees
‘PROPAGANDA’ weekend in Hull – posters, film, live music and a book;
supporting asylum seekers and refugee organisations; celebrating diversity
and resistance.
From Agit-Prop to Art House, from fly posting to frame, ‘PROPAGANDA: Hull
Rock Against Racism Posters 1979-82’ gatecrashes the Ferens Art Gallery in
Hull on Friday August 10 for a visually stunning summer show, introducing a
weekend of anti-racist events in the city.
Twenty-five years ago, Rock Against Racism took a leading role in the battle
against racism in Hull, building a community campaign at grass roots level
with music as its driving force. Still with the power to smack you right
between the eyes, these screen-printed street posters promoted dozens of
local bands, all eager to take a stand against racism, including The Akrylyk
Vyktymz and Timber Flesh (featuring future Fine Young Cannibal, Roland
Gift).
With originals now on permanent display at Wilberforce House Museum and the
Lamp in Hull, this major retrospective of the full compelling collection
commemorates Wilberforce 2007, its own 25th anniversary and the continuing
fight against racism.
To co-incide with the exhibition, ‘PROPAGANDA’ – a full-colour glossy
postcard book of the exhibition- will be launched in bookshops and online
from August 11. Containing 18 vivid images from the poster collection, the
book includes a short history of Rock Against Racism as well as texts
written by people currently seeking political asylum in Hull. Poster-maker
and author Richard Lees explained: ” These are moving, poetic, gripping
accounts of lived experiences from people confronting racism on the streets
of Hull today.’PROPAGANDA’ is about connecting past with present struggles,
powerful words with powerful pictures.”
Unique events at local clubs take centre stage during the PROPAGANDA
weekend. ‘Who Shot the Sheriff?’ – a radical rockumentary about the roots of
Rock Against Racism and the rise of the contemporary LoveMusicHateRacism
campaign- will be screened for the first time ever in Hull at the Lamp, on
Saturday August 11 at 7.30pm.
To end the weekend celebrating diversity and resistance, live-music at the
Adelphi on Sunday August 12th includes not-to-be-missed newcomers The Cliques
plus others supporting Wilberforce 2007 and Love Music Hate Racism. Join us at a PROPAGANDA event, visit www.hullrockagainstracism.co.uk and
take a stand against racism and fascism.
‘PROPAGANDA’ weekend in Hull – posters, film, live music and a book;
supporting asylum seekers and refugee organisations; celebrating diversity
and resistance.
These quotes from refugees and people seeking asylum in Hull are collected and translated by Dilzar Ali and Richard Duffy-Howard
- “When I came to England, to Hull, it was a different language, culture and basically everything was like a big lock. And it was locked. The key to my life in Hull was music. If you take the music out of the world there would be nothing left to make a difference.”
- “I have invited a couple of my friends from Bradford we were walking to town and they were saying we’ve heard Hull’s really bad and I was saying no not really, I’ve got some really good friends and it’s a really nice place to live, I’ve been to other cities but I think Hull is beautiful. Whilst I was talking a taxi passed us and the taxi driver leaned out of the window and started shouting ‘f*** off to your own country’, you know really shouting, really angry and my friend was saying well it must be really hard to live in Hull. I said ok there are some idiots but I have some really good friends here, don’t believe all the rumours. With that, the taxi got to the end of Spring Bank and turned around, he drove back just so he could hurl abuse at us for a second time. I was really mad; I was just telling my friends how beautiful Hull was.”
- “Once I went to one of the supermarkets in a shopping centre. I went to pay, I paid and I said thank you and the woman at the checkout smiled and said thank you too. The way she said it and looked at me she really meant it. This was the first time someone here had said thank you to me. I can’t explain how it made me feel but it made the rest of my day wonderful.”
- “In my city, Howlare in Kurdistan, it is very flat just like Hull. Many years ago people built a hill in the middle of the city with their hands, so you could see it from miles around and know that you were close to home. When you see it after a long journey, it warms your heart and lifts your spirit.
Here I travel with my band all over England to beautiful places with good people, playing at parties and gigs, but we know it’s not home and at the end of the night when we are really tired we know we have to go back. When we see the Humber Bridge, it’s like the hill in the middle of Howlare. We look at each other, smile and say ‘Yeah! Let’s go!’ “ - “I was waiting at a bus stop there was a woman with a child in a push-chair the bus came and she was struggling to get on and I said ‘do you want help with the push-chair?’ She said ‘no, but you can hold my baby’ and when she got off the bus and I said ‘do you want help with the push-chair’ and she said ‘no but you can hold my baby again’ and because in this country usually people would not trust someone like me, but she did, it made me feel good because she showed me that not everyone believes the lies they tell about us.”
- “My friend, he’s Kurdish too, he can go to night clubs in town, pubs, anywhere, he has a great time and comes home feeling good. Nobody tells him to ‘f*** off to your own country’, but he doesn’t look like me. His skin is whiter and he’s got blue eyes.”
- “My home in Kurdistan I shared with seven sisters, three brothers, my mum and my dad. There is a beautiful garden. We have two different orange trees, olive, pomegranate and a grapefruit tree which isn’t really grapefruit, it’s much more special. There are two grapevines in the garage, one black and one white. The roof of our house is flat; you can go to sleep up there watching the stars. And the stars are like nothing else. Everything is so clear you can navigate by them; you always know where you are. It is like being on a different planet. It is so beautiful. But I had to leave. I had no choice. I was seventeen. I have been looking for the stars since I’ve been in England but I can’t see them.”
- “Even though I have seen many horrors in my life, I still think I am lucky because I have brought good things from Kurdistan and I can see the good things in England.”
