Biafra

Carlos Irizarry, Biafra, 1970, photo screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.24.2, © 1970, Carlos Irizarry
Copied Carlos Irizarry, Biafra, 1970, photo screenprint, image: 28 5⁄8 x 35 in. (72.7 x 88.9 cm) sheet: 31 x 40 in. (78.7 x 101.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.24.2, © 1970, Carlos Irizarry

Artwork Details

Title
Biafra
Artist
Date
1970
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 28 5⁄8 x 35 in. (72.7 x 88.9 cm) sheet: 31 x 40 in. (78.7 x 101.6 cm)
Copyright
© 1970, Carlos Irizarry
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
photo screenprint
Classifications
Subjects
  • Children
  • African
Object Number
2013.24.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.24.2

Artwork Description

Irizarry was active in New York City’s pop art circles during the 1960s. He also shared political concerns with other local artists of Puerto Rican descent who were interested in social justice and the fate of the Third World. In this work he used a signature pop art medium – photo screenprint – to explore how the media portrayed victims in the short-lived West African Republic of Biafra, where forces against its independence from Nigeria used famine as a weapon of mass destruction.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Description in Spanish

Irizarry participó en el los círculos alrededor del movimiento de pop art en Nueva York durante la década de los sesenta. El compartió además las inquietudes políticas de los artistas puertorriquenos de la diaspora que estaban interesados en la justicia social y el destino del Tercer Mundo. En esta obra el utilizó unos de los medios artísticos mas representativo del arte pop — la serigrafía fotográfica — para explorar la forma en que los medios de comunicación masiva representaron a las víctimas de Biafra. Esta república, en el oeste de África, sucumbió ante los oponentes a su independencia de Nigeria que usaron la hambruna como arma de destrucción masiva.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.