Artists Against Apartheid Messages to the Public

Art Against Apartheid brings its message of freedom, designed by member artist Valerie Maynard (1937–2022, b. New York City, NY), to Times Square. Maynard’s work is a direct call for an end to South Africa’s system of apartheid. The message begins with an image of the spinning earth. Next the word “FREEDOM,” flashing in large bold letters, appears upon the globe, while additional text crawls onto the screen from both the left and the right. It then cuts to animated black silhouettes of men, women, and children who dance across the screen, from right to left. As these figures meet and intertwine, they are visually transformed into a flock of birds that flies out of the frame. The message ends, as it begins, with an image of the spinning earth which emerges from the bottom of the screen and is lifted up and out of the frame by a group of silhouetted children.

Established in 1984, Art Against Apartheid is an artist’s collective that formed with the intent of educating the public about the situation in South Africa. The group continued to sponsor art showings and talks about South Africa until 1986.

Messages to the Public formed a key part of the Public Art Fund’s long-term commitment to media-based artworks. Running from 1982 to 1990, the show featured a series of artists’ projects created specifically for the Spectacolor board at Times Square.

As Russell Miller from Ohio newspaper The Toledo Blade explained in his article on February 19, 1984, “every month, a different artist presents a 30-second animation on the Spectacolor light board—an 800-square-foot array of 8,000 red, white, blue, and green 60-watt bulbs that dominates the Times Square vista. The spot is repeated more than 50 times a day for two weeks, wedged into a 20-minute loop of computer-animated commercials.

“Jane Dickson, a painter, was working for Spectacolor, Inc. as an ad designer and computer programmer when, three and a half years ago, she first thought to use the light board to display noncommercial art.

“‘I picked that title,’ she said of Messages to the Public, ‘because I thought the propaganda potential from this project was terrific.’ The board, she noted, was regularly used for ‘commercial propaganda.’

“Dickson sought help from the Public Art Fund, an organization based here and dedicated to taking art out of the galleries and placing it in the city’s streets and parks.”

Project Director of the Public Art Fund Jessica Cusick explained, “We’re trying to do art that’s timely, has a message, is visually potent and is trying to deal with the fine line dividing fine art and commercial art.”