"March & Rally"
Mark Vallen 1985.
Pencil on paper. 13" x 21" inches

Artist's statement:

"On April 20, 1985, massive demonstrations against the right-wing policies of President Ronald Reagan were held coast to coast in the United States, with huge demonstrations held in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. An extensive coalition of labor, environmental, and antiwar activists organized the protests under the banner of the "April 20 Coalition."

The demands of the campaign were broad and all-encompassing; an end to the arms race, a halt to U.S. military intervention in Central America, ending U.S. support to the racist apartheid regime of South Africa, and solidarity with U.S. workers in opposition to Reagan's anti-labor practices.

I created this bilingual poster in English and Spanish for the Los Angeles office of the April 20 Coalition, an image that announced the coalition's march and rally to City Hall in downtown L.A. The image was printed as a pullout street poster that appeared in the L.A. Coalition's broadsheet newspaper published to build support for the event. Thousands of copies of the pullout poster circulated in L.A., many being wheat-pasted on city walls.