Most communist propaganda posters have a similar theme: people of different races united under the red banner. What now seems to be obvious, was actually a very radical concept at that time. These posters were a testament to the way the new world was imagined: a utopia where peoples that were previous subjugated and were oppressed in all sorts of ways were now in the process of creating a world in their own imagining, and not as a reflection of the West.
Dada Amir Haider was part of the people in this movement. In many ways, he is part of this poster -claiming a space in the international space at a time when post colonial states, now having freed themselves from their colonial preparators, were now struggling with describing what this freedom meant. Dada Amir Haider and his vision for what it means to be free is evident in this poster: it's in the man standing upright, it's in the people of different races given representation, it's in the promise of a world that has not yet materialized. Was not materialized either but has been preserved in memory.
Comments