Print Agit Prop is a set of themed portfolios with prints from Josh MacPhee, spanning 25 years from 1997 – 2022. Subject matter reflects the social justice movements that Josh MacPhee was involved with through direct action, working with allies and organizations, and/or personal politics.

“I began producing political posters and prints in the mid-1990s. This was a simple pivot from designing materials for the punk music scene, shifting the same skill sets to bear on social justice issues. I initially worked on posters and materials for campaigns around political prisoners and challenging mass incarceration, but quickly expanded and began working with a diverse set of groups and issues, including housing struggles, immigration reform, labor unions, access to healthcare, environmental justice, police reform, right to the city, and more. Many of this print agit prop was produced in association with—and at the behest of—very specific organizations, while some of it I created on my own in hopes of contributing the struggles. Some of it I was paid for my work, others I donated my labor. Many of these posters were mass produced and widely distributed, used in public demonstrations or organized street art campaigns. All of the work speaks to the complex interplay between visual culture and social movements, and the unique place of the artist and designer in political organizing.” -Josh MacPhee

Tired of Capitalism is a portfolio of 22 prints – 15 screenprints, 4 risograph posters, 2 offset printed posters and 1 spray paint stencil print – engaged with the subject of labor and capitalism.

This portfolio spans two decades of Josh MacPhee’s print work surrounding class, labor and anti-capitalist movements. It is a walk-through of labor print history, including prints used in Occupy Wall Street, May Day celebrations and demonstrations. There are pieces supporting the National Education Association Representative Assembly and the Cooperative Education Association of New York City and against the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). Lastly, there is an amusing 2006 stenciled placard used in a a fictitious Victorian union protest at a 2006 Troy, NY Victorian holiday dress commercial event.

This portfolio will be relevant for print propaganda, labor and organizing history, graphic design and printmaking.

Prints include have variation of color and paper between sets.

Monograph with detailed information can be found here.