Text published on the catalog of the Fourth International Poster Exhibition YAKU Lima-Peru 2010″, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola

I learned since I was a child that legality has nothing to do with being correct.
We must always question, we must be irreverent, so as to innovate, gain freedom, create and construct.

In 1964 there was a military coup in Brazil. Human rights were disrespected, many people disappeared, kidnapped by the police; scientists were arrested and exiled. It was a period of terror, a moment of brain washing from which our country has, as yet, not fully recovered. We only began to reconstruct our democracy 20 years later, in 1984, when we at last gained the right to vote.

My parents were considered to be illegal because they helped and housed activists who were against the political situation.  They shared this secret with me although I was only 6 years old.  They trusted me as much as I trusted them.

This lesson is a reference to me both personally and professionally.

What seduces me about graphic design is its democratic nature, its reproducibility,  in contrast to the exclusiveness of the fine arts. Posters are by nature urban communication designs.  Social posters have a democratic vocation, they carry messages of protest, clandestine echoes against dictatorships, convoking strikes, denouncing injustice. So in my opinion, they belong to the streets.

Designing social posters is only a part of our effort to change the world and shouldn’t be seen to be merely an aesthetic exercise, or a way to show our disagreement towards the status quo. Its value increases by denouncing and speculating about the ways in which we can change things. A good poster is not necessarily a beautiful poster showing beautiful images.

Changing the world has to do about changing our attitude towards life, about the way we consume and how we establish our social relationships, independent of our profession.

Although opening the newspapers every day doesn’t make me feel exactly optimistic, I suspect that people are becoming more aware about the future of our planet, about sustainability and human rights. The more I see indications of this chance in the news, the more I believe that we may, someday, somehow, be able to build a better world.

My dream for the future is a world with more justice. A world – as you say, Hervé – where everyone can have access to food, health, work, culture and education. And since I have a special passion for animals and nature in general, I am convinced that we cannot achieve harmony and justice without giving attention to nature.

Ruth Klotzel