How T-shirts change the world

The T-shirt, the poster, the billboard. Traditionally the weapons of protest and of solidarity are remarkable for their ability to cross oceans with similar messages, as displayed in an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Sponsored by the British Council, the "Upfront and personal - three decades of political graphics" exhibition comes on the back of an upsurge in the anti-war movement across the globe and was spurred on by the US-led war on Iraq.

It features the items of popular culture that activists and organisations in South Africa and Britain use to build support and solidarity and to get their message across without the benefit of corporate public relations budgets.

Two such weapons, developed in different countries, bear a striking resemblance to each other and also reveal the changing nature of relations between civil society in the two countries.

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