I just came across several North Korean propaganda posters on the BBC website; they interviewed a Western collector of such art. Since communist propaganda art is becoming rarer in the rest of the world, looking at it is an interesting experience.
The caption above reads: "Let's give a bigger part to the advantages of the socialist treatment system through greater effort." The caption is only in Korean script - Chinese characters (which many non-Koreans readily understand) are banned in North Korea, and even in South Korea they are increasingly harder to find.
Also notable is the rather primitive coloring theme, as opposed to the sophisticated themes you'd see on South Korean art.
Here is an anti-imperialist one. It reads: "Those who mess with us will be wiped off the face of the Earth forever."
Check the link below for more examples.
BBC
6 comments:
These are very interesting pieces. VERY VERY interesting.
Thanks for the translation too! Wonderful to view them with full understanding of the message they convey.
The coloring may be 'primative' but it is completely effective. As propaganda it is actually pretty scientific.
These colors evoke certain responses, red = blood, blue conveys calm and white= purity.
Red, white and blue.
Wow, that is creepy. North Koreans are creepy.
Their propaganda is so over the top it almost seems like it can not be real.
A joke that smells strangely enough like dead people.
I hate to praise them in any way, but that cityscape in the first one is very cool!
Great artist! I hope he wasn't starved and beaten into it.
E.Ghad.
Christy
While traditional Korean color scheme (in my previous post) is red and green with bits of other colors, modern color scheme calls for red, white, and blue in North Korea, and also black in South Korea, the colors of their respective national flags.
Yes, as propaganda they are very scientific.
In fact, I need to Google comparable South Korean art from the 1960s, with strong anti-communist messages. Those had primitive design and color themes too, as South Korean printing technology was quite primitive back then. I won't do it right away though, as I'm spending way too much time on the Web already as is.
Ally McRepuke
Christy
The BBC interview says that there is a team of 1,000 artists, employed by the North Korean government, doing nothing but cranking out these propaganda posters.
Ally McRepuke
I am so looking forward to your pics from your trip.
You are going to have so much fun!
You know, after meditating, of course!
Every day there are new lessons to be learned here on this blog. Rachel, I found that poster about teaching your kids to swim to be a contradiction to all the others. There is nothing child-centred or even child-periphery about any of the others. There is nothing at all innocent in them. And here, amongst them, is this innocent and positive and healthy message about children. It makes me shudder.
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