The Re-making of Picasso’s Guernica is a collective project involving artists, activists and communities. It is about sharing skills of making and the experiences of countering fascism and militarism. Our large-scale textile piece functions as a banner for exhibition and actions. It is both a work of art and an act of protest.
We’d like to invite you to take part – come and sew! Jubilee Library, 16 June & 23 June 2013, 12 – 4pm
What is Guernica? Gernika is a place in northern Spain and Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. The painting is Picasso’s representation of the bombing of the civilian population of the Basque town of Gernika in 1937. It has become one of his most widely exhibited works. For forty-four years the painting was constantly on tour and featured in a variety of venues from a car showroom in Manchester to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Picasso prohibited it from going to Spain until 1981 when a democratic government was in place.
Aerial bombardments of civilian populations and fascist activity continue to this day. We have been moved, as other artists and activists before us, to re-make Picasso’s Guernica so as to deploy the power of art against fascism and war.
As we cut, pinned and tacked we discussed the historical correspondences between the mid 1930s, when Picasso created Guernica, and today. We recognised similarities between aerial bombardment in the Second World War and the present use of drones, between old and new fascisms; between anti-Semitism & Islamophobia.
For more information, download a flyer here
If you’d like to stay in touch with the banner makers as the project develops, or host a sewing event or talk, email: remakingpicassosguernica@riseup.net