At the end of May ,CASC members John Hillian, Deirdre Kelly and Char Bell installed the Revolutionary Poster Exhibition at the Cedar Hill Arts Centre, and the Bruce Hutchinson Library. The display was formed from the personal collections of some CASC members, of posters that had been made to raise awareness of various campaigns throughout the years. (the oldest dated back to Nicaragua in 1980.)

Never before seen except in the context of our own events, this was the first time that such a show would be on display for the general public in Victoria. The hope was that it would also serve to let the wider public know about the history of CASC, and publicize our current campaigns.

The formal opening of the exhibition took place on Friday, May 28th at the Cedar Hill Arts Centre. About 50 people attended, and were treated to some great authentic music from Latin America by local group Los del Sur. The group whose members are originally from Chile and Argentina, performed 2 sets, between which Deirdre Kelly, Juan Carlos Flores, and Peter Golden gave their spoken reflections on some of the subjects depicted in the posters. Deirdre talked specifically about Nicaragua, Carlos talked about Chile and El Salvador, and Peter talked about Human Rights, Guatemala, and Chiapas. John Hillian, who was the MC, acknowledged the support of the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria for allowing CASC to have our show in their space. He also made special recognition of long time CASC member Andree Scott, who was in attendance, and thanked her for her years of solidarity with the people of Central America.

The following Friday, Nedjo Rogers organized and hosted an evening of “Music and Solidarity”. The invited guests used the Café Gallery and Poster Exhibition as their back drop. The evening was spirited, and the voices of the singers resounded through the halls of the Art Centre.

The final event before the main display was taken down was a powerpoint slide presentation entitled “The Arts of Resistance” with CASC member Terry Wolfwood. Terry, also with the Barnard Boeker Foundation and Women in Black, shared many examples of Art that had been done by people in resistance in many places in the world. These ranged From mining protests in Southern Mexico, the struggles against military occupation in Palestine and the Western Sahara, to works promoting good treatment of the environment in Africa, and many more. Terry had documented and offered solidarity to all the people in the presentation, many of whom we in CASC had known about through campaigns that were the subject of Café Simpatico over the past several years. Terry also included in the slides many of her own works in resistance, brightly coloured banners sewn with slogans, some of the most striking examples in the whole talk.

We thank Terry, Nedjo, and all the other folks who helped make our Revolutionary Poster Exhibition a success.