Black Panther To Give Second Lecture In Auckland

Media release
2 September 2009

Back By Popular Demand:
Black Panther To Give Second Lecture In Auckland

“Don’t support the greedy.” © Emory Douglas, ARS/ Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney 2009.

Due to popular demand Emory Douglas, the former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, will deliver a second public lecture this month at The University of Auckland.

Emory Douglas is visiting New Zealand as the Elam International Artist in Residence at The University of Auckland. The self-described juvenile-delinquent-turned-artist created the striking graphic images that came to represent the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. The group was founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, and was one of the first organisations in US history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation.

Symbolising the civil unrest of the times, Emory Douglas’ images were used to illustrate the Black Panther, the party’s weekly newspaper. Over the years, the Black Panther’s “Revolutionary Artist” made countless artworks, illustrations, and cartoons, which were reproduced in the paper and distributed as prints, posters, cards and sculptures. The organisation was discontinued in the earῬy 1980s.

Emory Douglas is today recognised as an artist in his own right, and his works have been mounted in solo exhibitions around the world and included in the 2008 Sydney Biennale. Currently, he has a major retrospective exhibit on display at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.

Last month, Emory Douglas delivered a public lecture to an oversubscribed audience, and many hopeful attendees had to be turned away. In September, he will again deliver “Emory Douglas and the Art of Revolution”, a lecture that will cover the graphic art he created while Minister of Culture for the Black Panthers as well as his contemporary work.

“Emory Douglas and the Art of Revolution” will be delivered at 6.30pm on Monday 21 September in room 1.439, “Glass Box”, Engineering Building, (20 Symonds Street). The lecture and presentation is free and open to the public.

The solo exhibition, “Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party” is on display at the Gus Fisher Gallery (74 Shortland Street) until 3 October. For details visit www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz

The Elam International Artist in Residence programme was established in 1999 and is made possible by the generous sponsorship of arts patron Dame Jenny Gibbs.

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery (CNZARD), the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.

ENDS

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