Stormtrooper Che at Folklife

on a usps stamp


compare with a very similar picture from deviantART

"V" update

I did some more research this week pouring through images on deviantART and noticed a few more Che/V associations



Besides established link with Bob Marley (and related), Che seems to show up a lot around the Linux Penguin. Also alongside Gandhi, interestingly. One anti-che image fused his face with Hitler's:

Visual Identities Application 2

While connecting a fairly complex web of interconnected observations and semantic models, I found that the Visual Identities reading on Apple and IBM's logos provides useful insight into how we can weave "hard data" and more qualitative analysis together into a meaningful narrative. I also found the breadth of data analyzed--ranging from the actual form of a logo, to corporate documents, to the broader context within which it interacts fascinating. This has triggered me to think even further beyond the image of Che itself and to examine in greater depth the context where is image does (or doesn't) appear.

In the author's analysis, I specifically appreciated how Floch narrowed down a broader context of observation and invited the reader to see the process by which she deduced similarities and differences in few significant categories like structure, color, and form. Though I'm not sure I tracked all the nuances of her treatment of the symbols, my understanding was that she focused more on how they actually functioned than what they were supposed to mean in an abstract/theoretical sense. I found this mode of analysis refreshingly pragmatic (and quite revealing as well). By seeing inside the author's process, I felt comfortable working loosely with her conclusions about how the two symbols "mean," especially in relation to each other.

This makes me want to understand Che's image outside of a static isolated context and to begin to make observations about how it has a dynamic conversation with its environment. Can changes to the image over time be explained by these observations? Some specific pieces of contextual data that I've intuitively assessed to be useful include:
- The frequency of repeated images on a Google image search
- The "caption" text associated with Flickr posts
- The user IDs of deviantART posters together with their image captions

At the moment, I've physically placed a single copy of each of my image samples into unique folders like "tribute," "art," "editorial," "merchandise," etc. While these are useful for finding trends, they are also counterproductive, when an image best fits in multiple categories. For example many pieces of art with Che's image, are also tributes, but not all tributes are artworks and neither are all artworks tributes.

Ideally I'd be able to automatically leech text associated with the images and store it as meta data, while manually flagging images with as many "tags" as are appropriate. Tags would include generic statistics like where it was from, when it was accessed, when it was posted, and how frequently duplicate images occur, as well as which categories apply to it (art, tribute, merchandise, all of the above, etc). This floating cloud of images linked to data would then facilitate clearer numeric observations that would pave the way inquiries into descriptive narratives. For example, I expect that a statistical analysis of my images would reveal that images bashing Che tend to modify the iconic Korda image less, while images giving tribute to him tend to be more unique and personalized. I'd like to explore this, but first it seems necessary to determine the degree to which the observation is true.

Visual Identities Application

The Visual Identities chapter provided excellent insight into how to approach the semiotic deconstruction of a company logo. The author unpacked a variety of tools that can be used when examining such logos, including the colors chosen. Further, the author succeeds in explaining how each of the logos examined come to define mainstream and progressive spirit.

Applying some of the techniques used in this chapter to the Korda image of Che Guevara could be tricky. In the Visual Identities chapter the author looks into the message behind two images constructed to represent a brand but have come to define broader socio-economic beliefs. On the other hand, the Korda image of Che is very different than IBM or Apple, because it was not created to market a product. But it has morphed into an image that markets an idea that carries a different message depending on what part of the world it is seen.

For my specific research some of the techniques for analysis that can be used involve looking at colors. Che’s image can be found in all parts of the world, from walls, to billboards, to street signs, to buildings, to banners and t-shirts. But the colors used vary little across mediums. Despite that the original image was a black and white photo; many of the reproductions contain variations of red and black. What do these colors represent? And do they have different political meaning in different parts of the world? Finally, many of the images found in Latin countries draw attention to the star on Che’s beret. Often the star is more pronounced than in the original, coming across as a beacon shining from his forehead. This isn’t the case in most countries outside of Latin America and Cuba. Is this a reflection of Christ-like status in these countries? A further examination of the star on the beret and the colors used, along with location should lead to a better understanding of the message the Korda image of Che carries to viewers and how that message varies across the world.

Progress update

Data collection- So far I've collected images from all parts of the world. I've focussed primarily on photos taken of Che images found on billboards, government buildings, walls, posters, etc. I've also started a preliminary search in world newspapers. The images that accompany stories in newspapers in Latin America and on the BBC News website are not always the Korda image that has become so well known.

The photographs found depict Che in a variety of mediums. The photos found in Cuba are of a nationalistic nature. Many are of road signs or are large murals painted on walls. Most of the photos taken in Latin America are of murals and stencil paintings. Images of Che found in Europe range from small stencil paintings to posters to partials of the Korda image displayed outside of an art museum. Photos of Che have been difficult to find in Asian countries, but I did find one poster aligned with a beer ad in Korea.

Further Research - I need to continue my search for images across the world and begin to categorize what I find. So far the styles range, from large murals to stencil paintings and from posters to street art. Official government images can be found in Cuba and statues are can be found in Cuba and Bolivia. Further research needs to be done into images found in world newspapers. Aligning these images with the tone of the story could also provide insight into how the image is perceived or what it means t0 each country.

data collection thus far

Alright so here are my totals of Che data so far this quarter:

websites: 21

videos/movies: 5

pictures: 5

books: 4

districts visited: 2

graphs/tables: 2

Unfortunately I did not start keeping track of data I found and discarded until recently, so this is all data I thought worthy of sharing with the rest of the class.

Che Sign!

Yes... not in droves, but Che has been showing up. A few observations from the context have been interesting to me as well.

Basics first. People do still wear Che t-shirts, at least three of them anyway. Despite having spent a considerable amount of time downtown, in Freemont, and in the u-district all three Che tees I spotted were on campus. Two were light olive green-brown colored shirts with a solid black silhouette of the Korda image filling the front (no text). Just a few minutes ago I met a Korean student wearing a gray Che T shirt with a similar image, but a distinct red star and glow around it. There was some vertically aligned type on the left in a cursive font, but I didn't make out what it read. I had a chance to informally interview him and learned that he received the shirt as a gift from a host family while he was traveling in Nicaragua. He had a basic sense of who Che was and though he didn't idolize him recognized that he "fought against injustice" and felt his values overlapped.

I also had a chance to visit the shirt vendor on the Ave. He screen prints everything himself on various second hand clothing items. His collection includes not just Che images, but Bob Marley, a lion, an elephant, (I feel like I'm forgetting a couple), and--interestingly--V (from V for Vendetta). V especially interested me because I'd just recently seen the movie for the first time and the the ideology and symbolism fascinated me. As I've looked for Che images, V seems to be a minor re-incarnation.

Here's some background:
- Watching V for Vendetta and noticing humanist/anarchist ideological themes
- Following rabbit trails from thechestore.com I was on a "Pop culture tees" website and noticed an anarchist t-shirt
- Looking around for Che stencils but finding anarchist "A" carvings in wood fences and sidewalks instead

This led me to compare the V symbol and with the anarchist and humanist symbol, and some of the similarity was startling.

Here's the normal V symbol


Here's the Anarchist symbol (from the t-shirt)


- And here's all it takes to match them
Rotate V upside down:


Knock out V, and add a cross line for the A:


I looked for a similar comparison with Humanist symbols, but found that decisive connections were harder to find. Sometimes they are combined with the anarchist symbol though.

Interesting You Tube clip on Che

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xHirDOoRu8

Although the conservative bias in this interview on the Glen Beck show is apparent and sometimes irritating, it does present some ideas I have not considered yet. The author of the book on Che semiotics interviewed in the clip suggests that Fidel Castro has more to do with the popularization of the Che image than anyone. Interesting.

Distribution Search

www.theCHEstore.com

This is the first website I investigated, primarily because it is the top site that comes up when you type “Che merch” into a websearch. The primary slogan for this website is “for all your revolutionary needs.” I have emailed this site on April 23rd requesting them to answer a few simple questions about their business; specifically why they sell only Che merchandise. I got no response.

One important fact to know about this website is they claim that officially licensed Che Guevara merchandise is only produced through their business. To quote the site:
“All theCHEstore.com merchandise is available to qualified merchants at wholesale prices. If you are a distributor or retailer and are interested in an opportunity to resell licensed Che Guevara product, then contact theCHEstore.com.”

Additionally, if you own a website a post a link to the Che store they will pay you 10% of all sales generated by your link. This payment seems to be made primarily through PayPal. Once again, Che products are manufacture for this website only. What is most notable about this website is that they are paying money to be able to withhold their name. The only information available is that the site’s physical location is in Bellevue, Washington while the site’s domain is located in Canada (thank you to Daniel for showing me how to do this).

In terms of the actual merchandise itself, it ranges from t-shirts to clocks to lighters. I have provided a table with the number of each item I found and what color it was. The table can be found as the first page after this report. Over 90% of all the items you can buy on the site simply display the Korda image of Che. So a typical t-shirt would be black or red with Che’s head on it with no real text. I only found one t-shirt that deviated from this trend: it was black with the number 26 on the front of it and the slogan “Don’t forget the revolution” on the back. I have no idea what “26” has to do with Che and so I looked into it.

www.che-lives.com

This website claims to be a “leftist project” dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara. When you go to their merchandise store, it simply gives you a link to www.theCHEstore.com (giving some evidence that maybe all Che merch does go through that site). However, there are some Che items that are not sold through that site, but they are not clothes. For example, this site offers 38 posters for sale. When you click on one of the posters to purchase it, it takes you to www.allposters.com. The art and creativity behind these posters goes beyond what the Che store has to offer. While a lot of them are the typical Korda image on black or red, there quite a few posters that that are historical photographs blown up. One of these posters I recognized as the same one that I have in my room right now (I had bought it at a campus vendor at Washington State University last year). The majority of these posters, including my own, depict Che in a relaxed type of setting smoking a cigar and smiling. Now that I think of it, Che has only been depicted with two types of expressions in all of this merchandise: either the determined look in the Korda image, or him smiling in a casual manner. All of these posters are between 6-10$ except for a few art prints which are between 20-30$. This website offers the same 27 books as the Che store, through Amazon.com.

One thing I found interesting was that although the book I annotated, “Che Guevara: Icon, Myth, and Message” implied that the image of Che in these posters have gotten to be more colorful and “peace” oriented since the 60’s and 70’s, only one of the posters on that website resembled this. The majority of the posters were black, black and white, or red with the typical Korda image.

Overall this website is much more purposeful than the CHE store. They are obviously not just out to sell t-shirts. On their site they have posted 8 links leading to websites talking about Che and his life (and consequently, his death). One such link of interest was called “The Death of Che Guevara,” which contains declassified US documents dealing with his execution.
However, after I typed this website name into the domain searcher I found that all the information regarding the website was blocked. The only piece of information that was available is that the site is located in Westchester, CA.

The Che Guevara Store at www.CafePress.com

And yet another piece of evidence that points to the possibility of theChestore.com having exclusive rights to official Che merch. Although you can buy t-shirts from this website that have a famous Che quote or his picture, there are no shirts sold with the Korda image on them. The quote says, “If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.” However, you can buy shirts from this site with just about every major socialist figure’s head on them! A few examples are Trotsky and Karl Marx. Surprisingly, these shirts are about the same price as a typical Che shirt you would find at the Che store (around 20$). The site gives you a choice of 20 or so types of t-shirts (plain cotton shirts that are white or black, etc) as well as a few backpacks and coffee mugs. You choose which type of clothing you want and they put the quote or picture on the shirt.

Ebay Searches

Ebay holds a much wider array of Che merchandise than even the Che store. However, most of the items I have observed still depict the tyical Korda image, even with items that were hand-crafted or not manufactured by the Che store. What is most notable about these items is that even the buyout prices on them seem to be about half of what you would have to pay for at the Che store. As a result I decided to take the average of all the t-shirt prices from Cafepress.com, the Che store, and the buyout prices on Ebay and compare them (this does not include shipping):


www.theCHEstore.com: $17.49
www.cafepress.com: $22.65*
www.ebay.com: $13.39

*Note that café press seems to be more expensive because instead of ordering a stock t-shirt, you pick the design and what type of clothing you want the image put on, so I am assuming they charge extra because of that, and because you can get the t-shirt custom fitted. For the purposes of this research the comparison between ebay (where individuals are selling their custom made shirts or reselling items they bought elsewhere) and the Che store might be more telling.

www.Zumiez.com and www.Hottopic.com

I searched through both of these websites because Zumiez used to sell Che t-shirts and hot topic is the kind of clothing store that could also sell them. However, after sifting through both of their catalogs I found not a single t-shirt with Che’s image. After contacting the Zumiez downtown and visiting Hot Topic in Capitol Hill, I was not able to obtain a useful explanation as to why neither store carries them anymore. The most plausible conclusion would be that Che shirts did not sell well enough in Zumiez stores to warrant keeping them in production.

Broad Image Search - Research and Analysis

Research description:
My goal in this phase of research to achieve a broad immersion of all the different types of Che images. I felt this was both necessary because of my lack of exposure, as well as additionally helpful because it allowed me to form my first impressions very consciously. There was very little that I presupposed about what information would be significant in the images. The purpose of the search was primarily to get oriented enough to even know what to focus on.

For my search, I chose two particularly broad databases: Google and Flickr. For each I searched straightforwardly for “Che Guevara.” As a matter of interest, I also browsed some results from the editorial library of Getty Images to contrast these results. In my Google Image search I examined 450 pictures (the first 25 pages of results) and noted the unique images as well as their context. Though I didn’t document it, I also internally noted the frequency with which other images repeated. As I saved pictures, I made an informal indication about how or where they were being used (“anitche_politicalblog.jpg” for example). Due to the individualized nature of it’s content, I felt that flickr would provide some insights that Google did not. I searched about 250 images in flickr.

Findings, trends:
- Initially, I was surprised by how many critical and satirical Che images I uncovered. After eliminating the most commonly repeated images (in particular the B&W reduction of the famous Korda photograph over a red background), these comprised about half of the unique results.
- Next I noticed where these and the other unique images were coming from. A disproportionate number came from political blogs (either to the extreme political right or left). They seemed to either demonize him or idolize him (respectively). The former tended to be t-shirts with the classic image and cynical text (“Communism killed 100 million people and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” etc). Other recurring sources seemed to be thumbnails from news clippings, fine art galleries, and merchandize stores. A significant number of merchandize results were for posters, books, or photographic print of his image.
- Moving on to search flickr, the results seemed more weighted. They still contained Che satire images and generic highly repeated images, but less proportionally. Instead, they contained a higher proportion of tributes revering Che and photographs of found objects/images recognizing Che (statues, graffiti, etc.)
- Within the flickr results, I noticed that (relative to normal flickr images or the Google Che images) they had lots of text accompanying them. Most of the time this was a biographical tribute to Che.
- Among the editorial results (both from Getty and Google), Che seemed most frequently depicted as a political figurehead (being waved on flags at a rally, etc.) or an extreme merchandize item (being worn by a model as a pattern on a bikini).

Points of interest:
- Large scale bust statue in Boliva
- Coin with head on Che face that reads “Patria O Meurte”
- Use of Che’s image by Cuban government on found objects (including large-scale sculptures, banners, and even his signature on the national currency)
- Modernized graffiti of Che “in our image”
- Personalizations of the Korda silhouette on black (including a self-portrait, depiction of Jesus, and Nintendo’s Mario)
- Jesus made to look like Che on billboard
- An editorial photograph of Che with John Lennon
- A Che Bikini
- A Che onesie
- A grayscale Che tattoo (left shoulder)
- Digital tribute art to Che
- The appearance of Che posters or stencil art in S. Korea, Ireland, and England (by artist Banksy)
- Victims of Che poster
- Photoshopped image of Che looking down Marilyn Monroe’s shirt
- Che’s face made to look like a monkey or replaced with a skull
- A photograph of a book page using different American brands to build the Che image (Disney, Chrysler, etc). Opposite is the same made out of spilled coffee.
- An arena of people used as “human pixels” to make the image of Che (unknown circumstances)

Deliverables:
The total of unique images selected from each source was 171. In addition to the naming, these images were organized by folder into several categories:
- “Anti-Che, Satire”
- “Editorial” (I included some for-sale photo prints here)
- “Merchandize” (I included for-sale posters and books here)
- “Political figurehead, Pro-Che” (I included some editorial images here)
- “Tribute” (This was based more on context. It included many categories)
- “Art” (I included Graffiti and Murals within this)
These images and folders were then packaged into a compressed “.zip” file and made accessible to the Che group via email, so we can use them to accelerate research and as a common reference point. Though not posted online, I synthesized this same group of images into an unorganized HTML photo gallery.

Possible direction for future research:
- Search Deviant Art, an online art community
- Extend Getty Images search
- Search Google and Flickr for “Che Merchandize”
- Research and graph trends in text accompanying Che images on Flickr
- Present a more detailed analysis of context where “Che Guevara” images are found on Google (with screenshots, trends, and other useful info)
- Research how Che is used as a Cuban identity (travel websites, government banners and built objects). Focus especially on the city of Santa Clara.

More Che in Cuba and Bolivia

I found a few more interesting photos of Che billboards and paintings in Cuba and Bolivia. Click the image to be taken to the original URL.

Here are the two from Cuba. One is a road sign and the other is of a stencil painting on the outside of a ration shop.

Here are a couple of stencil paintings on the outside of buildings in Bolivia.
According to the photographer, the last image from Bolivia was taken in La Higuera. This is the town Che was imprisoned in for a day before being executed.

Notes on data collection:
All images were found on Flickr. For the images from Cuba, I logged onto Flickr, selected the Groups drop-down menu and chose Search for a Group. The search keywords used were "Che Guevara Cuba". The search resulted in several groups, but I chose the Che Guevara group and the Ernesto group. These were picked because they yielded good examples in the past and they contain the most photos. To find the photos from Bolivia, I did a search across everyone's uploads. Next to the Search box in the upper right-hand corner, I clicked the drop-down menu and chose Everyone's Uploads. In the new search box, I typed "Che Guevara Bolivia." This time I was specifically looking for murals or paintings on buildings in Bolivia.

The Victims of Ché Guevara

Apparently, this was created to shine a different light on the Ché image. Ché's face is comprised of victims of the Cuban regime.

Che in the Media

I've been compiling a spreadsheet that lists Che-related articles found on LexisNexis. I'm only looking for articles that include information about the image itself. There are a few things that I'm looking for:

1. Spikes in the number of articles about Ché during given time periods. Ex: The 40th anniversary of Che's death in October of '07. It would be interesting to see if these spikes in media coverage translated to spikes in distribution of Ché merchandise.

2. Words used by the authors to describe the Ché image.

3. Lists of Che-products given by authors of the Ché articles. Some of these authors revel in finding the most ridiculous products. Good leads.

The many interpretations of Che

Added links to the photos.

I focused on images that I could find on photo sharing sites and Google searches, looking primarily for photos taken by tourists. Most of my research centered on how Che's image is used in Cuba, but I did find at least one statue in Bolivia. I also tried to contrast the Cuban depictions of Che with some that are more reflective of American pop culture.

Cuba:





















































































































Most of the images I found from Cuba depict Che as stoic, heroic, and a part of their history. I found several photos of road signs and murals with Che's face and the words, "Hasta la victoria siempre". His image is also on a lot of official government things, such as the Ministry of Interior building in the Plaza de la Revolucion and some of their currency. The large bust in Bolivia is a common photo, but I thought this shot was one of the more interesting angles since it set up the cross in the background, invoking the images of Jesus or the crucifixion. I thought many of the shots taken in Cuba and Bolivia create an interesting juxtaposition with some of the many interesting interpretations we find in pop culture. Each category of images provides insight into specific cultures and helps us understand meaning behind the image for that culture. For Cubans, Che's image provokes a much different reaction than most Americans and I think this can be seen in the way the image is used in both cultures.

Notes about the data collection:
Images found in Flickr were found through group searches. I logged onto Flickr, selected the Groups drop-down menu and chose Search for a Group. The search keywords used were "Che Guevara", "Che Guevara Cuba", and "Che Guevara currency". Each search yielded nearly an identical set of groups found. The Groups chosen were Cuba Admira al Che Guevara, Ernesto, and Che Guevara. These groups were selected mainly because they contained the most images and most members. The specific images chosen were picked by browsing through the groups photos, looking for specific photos taken of murals, road signs, portraits, and other art found in Cuba. After stumbling onto the photo of the coin, I conducted a Google image search, using the keywords "Che Guevara currency" to find the image of the paper money. Pop culture images found on Flickr were found through the same groups used for the Cuba pictures, with the exception of the "I Want You To Rebel" poster. This was found by conducting a Google image search for "Che Guevara". The idea was to look for images that use the famous Korda photo in pop culture. The photo of the large bust of Che was found on Flickr. Instead of searching for groups that contained photos from Bolivia, I did a search across everyone's uploads. Next to the Search box in the upper right-hand corner, I clicked the drop-down menu and chose Everyone's Uploads. In the new search box I typed "Che Guevara Bolivia." I was specifically looking for photos of the bust.

Field Work Suggestions?

Alright, so I've covered the U-district and Capitol Hill this weekend but found virtually nothing that is of any use to us (ran into 1 person wearing a Che shirt). I've contacted the Northgate Zumiez by phone and went into the Hot Topic on broadway, and neither were selling Che clothes that I could see. The Hot Topic manager did not really have an answer for me as to why that is. Anymore good ideas for places we could go to that we haven't already?

Data Collection Ideas Part III

Hey, I've been pouring through image search results. One way I've thought about organizing these is by how/where Che images are used. My preliminary search through Google Image search results fell pretty cleanly into one of the following categories.

- fine art
- news/editorial
- political left groups
- political right groups
- merchandise

Some ways to broaden this search could include searching for editorial stock images, flicker, Che art, and searching historic mass media.

In terms of field data, Che has been pretty elusive recently, so maybe we should lean toward interviewing people on their response to the Che image instead of people directly wearing or selling it? Some groups of interest could be Hot Topic/Zoomies customers, whoever is least like these people, Getty Image employees, graffiti artists, UW's socialist club (is there a Republican club too?), or faculty on campus in sociology/anthropology departments.

Data Collection Ideas Part II

One of the data types that we can look at includes photos taken of Che’s image in countries other than the United States, such as Cuba, Bolivia, or Argentina. Photos taken in these countries could provide insight into what Che's image represents to those outside of the U.S. and how someone's worldview impacts the meaning of the image. Potential resources include Flickr groups, JPEG Magazine, Uber.com and various other photo sharing websites.

Data Collection Ideas

First Idea: interviewing people who own Che merchandise. We've already gone over this in class, however, over the weekend I met a classmate who owns the largest Che poster/flag I have ever seen. When I asked him what enticed him to buy it, he said that he bought it in Europe for only 7 Euros. I did not have any means to take a picture of it but I can go back if anyone else wants to see it.

Second Idea: My main idea for data collection would be to contact the people behind www.theCHEstore.com and www.Che-lives.com. I find it interesting that websites like these and a few others I have had the chance to explore all seem to have a wide array of Che merch but little to no facts about what political/economic motivations they have. I was expecting at least some of these sites to be leftist/non-profit organizations but I guess we'll see when they get back to me.

Some Ché Players

J.M. Ferreira – Founder of El Ché Cola
Ferreira is the founder of El Ché Cola. El Ché Cola is sold in bottles sporting the Ché image on them. The company is located in Marseilles, France. The website says that El Ché Cola is “a tribute to an icon, the legendary Ernesto Ché Guevara, known for his commitment to fighting injustices for a more equal world.” 50% of the proceeds from El Ché Cola go to NGO’s that focus their efforts on fighting hunger across the world.
(Duncan)

Hector Cruz Sandoval – Director of “KordaVision” – halogrp@earthlink.net
Cruz Sandoval directed “KordaVision,” a documentary about Alberto “Korda” Diaz, with some focus on the iconic image he created.
(Duncan)

Che-Lives.com – Website selling Ché goods
There is no contact information on the website, but I’ve sent them an email requesting an email exchange. It would be interesting to find out who is behind the website and what kind of product they move on a regular basis.
(Duncan)


Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez (September 14, 1928 – May 25, 2001) – Also known as Alberto Korda – Photographer.
Korda was born in Havana and lived most of his life in Cuba. Korda was working for the Cuban newspaper Revolución when he snapped the iconic photo of Ché Guevara titled "Guerrillero Heroico" in 1960 at the funeral for victims of a steamboat that was sabotaged in the port of Havana. Korda went on to work as Fidel Castro's personal photographer from 1968 to 1978. Although he never collected any royalties for the photo, Korda won a copyright suit over Smirnoff in 2000 for the rights to use the image. He died in 2001 while presenting an exhibit in Paris.
(Shaun)

Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (June 19, 1926 – March 14, 1972) – Italian publisher and left-wing activist.
Feltrinelli was born into one of Italy's wealthiest families. During the later years of World War II Feltrinelli joined and played a key role in financing the Italian Communist Party (PCI). In 1954 he founded the publishing company, Feltrinelli Editore and published Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. He also published the writings of Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Ché Guevara. Feltrinelli obtained the rights to Guevara's "Bolivian Diary" and chose Korda's now iconic photograph for the cover. Feltrinelli's death was considered "suspicious". He was found dead in Milan, apparently killed by his own explosives.
(Shaun)

Tomás Esson, (1963 – ) – Cuban born artist.
Esson was born in Havana and graduated from Havana's Art Institute. Esson's 1988 solo exhibit in a major Havana gallery was closed by Cuba's Ministry of Culture. The exhibit included Esson's "My Homage to Che" which portrayed Ché as a black man and obscured by two humanoids. The exhibit also included other images that combined depictions of Che and Castro with grotesque sexual imagery. Esson relocated to Miami due to consistent pressures by the Cuban Authorities in regards to his controversial art.
(Shaun)

Research Questions (v1.0)

1) Descriptive analysis: How was Ché depicted throughout his lifetime? What does the Ché image consist of? What characteristics of the image have changed throughout time? What characteristics have changed with the transmission of the image across national and cultural boundaries?

2) Interpretive analysis: What meanings were included in the depictions of Ché throughout his lifetime? What elements of the Ché image allow it to speak to interpretants as universally as it does? To what degree, if any, does the image change in order to accommodate new interpretants? If this does occur, how is accommodation achieved?

3) Critical analysis: How has the original Ché image been reinterpreted by its observers through time and space? How does an image birthed out of revolutionary socialism get co-opted by consumer-culture?

Here's an interesting shirt I saw on someone in Portland this weekend.

Chesucristo: Fusions, Myths, and Realities

Kunzle, David. Latin American Perspectives. Chesucristo: Fusions, Myths, and Realities. 2008; 35; 97

Kunzle's article begins by noting how some thinkers, though usually considered heretical, may have legitimate reasons to think that the historical Jesus was actually violent political revolutionary. He proceeds to examine how Che Guevara has similarly been "pacified," even though his real person was often angry, violent, and even "ferocious." He specifically evaluates several less than subtle comparisons between how Che and Jesus were viewed, especially surrounding their deaths (and resurrections). Though Kunzle's interpretation of religious texts and the history of Jesus' life is likely to be highly controversial, his observations about changes in Che's image are a clearer historical reality which provide interesting food for thought.

¿Venceremos o Venderemos? The Transnationalization and Neiman Marxistization of the Icon of Che Guevara.

Blum, Denise. “¿Venceremos o Venderemos? The Transnationalization and Neiman Marxistization of the Icon of Che Guevara.” Cuba Transnational. Gainesville:University Press of Florida, 2005.

Denise Blum is an assistant professor at CSU. She performed fieldwork in Cuba while researching her book “Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values: Allá en la lucha.” Blum uses Korda’s iconographic photo of Ché Guevara to explore transnationalism and “image culture” in Cuba. She shows how history and culture become more vulnerable to subjectivity as transnationalism reworks them. She uses various examples—Madonna’s abduction of the revolutionary beret, and the adoption of Ché’s name by an Egyptian entrepreneur looking to blend casual dining and guerilla warfare—to illustrate how “liberation marketing” and culture commodification distort meaning, and change the way meanings are received

Che Guevara: Icon, Myth, and Message by David Kunzle

Chapter 1: Che’s ideal in the Cuban Poster

OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America) and Tricontinental Magazine were largely responsible for making Che posters internationally popular. Tricontinental posters were mostly meant to be a pictoral declaration of Cuban foreign policy and were staunchly anti-US imperialism. They were circulated in 87 different countries. They appealed to Third World countries individually because they were very vanguard-esque yet still maintained Third World culture and aesthetics. Since these posters began circulating after Che’s execution, there has been a steady yet significant decrease in the posters as political art, and an increase in Che in the private sector, namely art galleries. However, these posters remain internationalist, nationalist, and multi-cultural at the same time. For example, only small arms such as hand grenades and soviet-style handguns and rifles are shown because tanks and planes are more so a reference to US military might and imperialism. They also show a striking resemblance to US counter-culture art that was popular during the 1960’s. The posters are almost always done in bright colors, conveying a peaceful nature. This is another trend since the revolutionary events of Latin America: a decrease in Che posters showing weapons and an increase in posters promoting world peace through vibrant colors and symbols. Gomez Fresquet stands out as an exemplary artist: his Che posters were largely satyrical of US commercial advertisements as a critique of capitalism itself. One example is a poster showing a white, rich model contrasted by a repressed Vietnamese girl, the red blood on her face matching the red lipstick of the model. Other notable examples are the Cuban Film Institute Posters, which used the same style and were posted all over the Cuban streets proclaiming, “Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”

Chapter 2: Che as Landscape

A popular conveyance of Che in all forms of expression has been showing him to be an emanation of the land. This consists of the typical Che silhouette filled with colorful jungle landscapes, the typical terrain he fought in as a guerilla. One of the most popular pieces of art of this style is Sergio Padilla Garcia’s large, 4x8 m poster depicting Che in this tone. These posters typical try to envision “imagined future utopias” reflecting Che’s socialistic vision. They also stand to represent Cuba’s new “ecological revolution” which is in direct opposition to the industrial farming used by wealthy nations today. One sub-genre of this style of poster that is still immensely attractive in Latin America is the “Che on Horseback” style. Painting Che as a bandit on horseback glorified him among the various bandit gangs in Latin America as a Robin Hood figure (which is exactly how he is portrayed in the paintings). This “Leftist Robinhood” image also had a very agrarian appeal toward the peasants in rural areas. Rene Mederos’ silkscreen painting is one of the most significant posters of this sub-genre.

Chapter 3: Collective Poetic Articulation

The opinion of the author David Kunzle is that Che inspired artists, poets, and writers more than any other 20th century personality. This represents a major creative phenomenon in the history of political art. There are 350 poems and 120 songs recorded from over 40 countries. In poetry, Che is usually revered in two major forms. The first is conveying Che the man. In these poems he is talked about as one with nature, usually characterized by water. He is also talked about as a “Companero” or a sort of transcendental comrade to all repressed peoples. Other poems talk about him as a Warrior/Poet and address the dichotomy: Che’s will to create peace through destruction. The other major type of poetry used to talk about Che is what many artists and poets dub, “The Che Project.” In this type of art/poetry artists use him as subject matter simply for the sake of keeping his image alive for “the progression of the self.” This means not so much glorifying the person, but instead using his life as an ideological map toward a new human dignity. This is why the star on Che’s beret is often referred to as a “guiding beacon.” This type of art is also used as a warning against over-glorifying Che the man, which would undermine the values he stood for which many artists feel are most important.

Chapter 4: Symbolism

Hair/Beard: The author’s opinion is that Che’s wild, flowing hair and beard is what so distinguishes him among other historical heroes and personalities. The beard is often portrayed in various paintings like wild flames, in order to show it as a “torch of defiance.” His beard was a big factor in his physical appeal, which lies in congruence with youth fashion-trends in Cuba in the 1960’s. Another factor is that the beard contradicts with the clean-cut look of America and at the same time appeals to the counter-culture movement of Vietnam. It is also a badge of honor for guerilla fighters, and signifies an untamed, militaristic component of Che.
Cigar: The cigar remains important symbolically because it is a symbol of Cuba’s national identity. While in the Western World the cigar is seen as an attribute of a wealthy, bloated capitalist, it is seen quite different in Cuba. In Cuba the cigar represents something that is very affordable to the working class, and is prized especially in Cuba for the superior quality of Cuban cigars. What many people do not know is that Che did not even smoke until he got to Cuba. It was then that the cigar became a normal part of the guerilla uniform. The cigar also reinforces Che as an intellectual in Cuba. Because of today’s health concerns with smoking, posters and images of Che without a cigar in-mouth are more prominent.
Guerilla Uniform: The loose-fitting way Che wore his olive guerilla uniform also ran in direct opposition to the US image of a soldier. The US hated having its representatives enter the United Nations wearing military dress, as Che did constantly. Because of that, the guerilla uniform is also part of the Cuban revolutionary ideal.
Beret: The black beret Che wears is a symbol of the active man who is at the same time, not upper-class. In posters and other images, it forms a “halo-like” clear line over the forehead, as not to shadow or cover Che’s eyes.
Star: The star on Che’s beret is the symbol of the comandante, a prestigious rank in guerilla armies. It is an aesthetic magnet because of the power and socialism it symbolizes. One poster that stands out exemplifying this is Raul Martinez’s 1968 silkscreen image, in which the star on Che’s beret is rising toward a colorful image of the world. The star is also said to be a symbol of universal human intelligence.
Name: The nickname “Che” does not personalize him, but does generalize quite a bit. It is used by Latin Americans to refer to people who are from Argentina. The “Che” on Cuban banknotes shows an ironic opposition to the florid signatures capitalism cherishes on such items.


Chapter 5: Photography

Although photographs were dangerous in his revolutionary campaigns, they were key in mystifying his image. Roberto Salas, who along with his father took more pictures of Che than any other photographer, claimed he had taken at least 20 “incredibly majestic photos” of Che. In contrast, he was only able to get 4-5 pictures of the same quality of Fidel Castro despite taking millions of photographs. One aspect of Che photographs that could attribute to his appeal is that unlike other historical figures, he is seen smiling or laughing in most of his photos.
Alberto Korda is credited with taking the picture of Che featuring the famous silhouette which has been reproduced in countless numbers of images and posters. It was taken while Che was attending a funeral in Cuba and was in a particularly furious mood. The picture was not originally published but was circulated some years later, right after Che’s execution, and sold millions. The photograph is so prolific that a documentary, “Una Foto Recorre el Mundo” was based upon the photo alone and won a Latin American film award. The photograph is also considered to be one of the most enduring pictures of the 20th century, along with several famous pictures of Vietnam brutality. The picture is said to be popular because of the degree of profiling of shadows along Che’s face, as well as the fact that it perfectly highlights his pupils, showing shades of feeling and meaning. The photograph is exaggerating of the man without being a painting or other creative reproduction.

Chapter 6: Mederos Life of Che

These are a series of 25 paintings by Rene Mederos. They are important because of how Che is distinctly idealized: bright colors are used, and no enemies or battles are shown. Che is shown to be more of an adventurer, explorer, or dreamer in the jungle mountains than as a battle-hardened soldier. The particular painting showing Che hacking through sugarcane appeals mostly to the Cuban ideals of the “working man.” It was meant to show Che as a true member of the proletariat. It is also worth noting in this series that Che’s imagined social and natural utopias are artistically realized. The beautiful, exotic plants sprouting into Che’s head are meant to be allegorical to his agrarian ideals. In the last painting, Che’s touching hands are meant to convey that his ideals still live on (his hands were cut off after his execution). On the outside of the Ministry of the Interior in Cuba, an 8 ft. tall steel silhouette of the Korda image also stands as a testament to Che’s timelessness.

Chapter 7: Che, Chicanos, and Cubans

Mario Torero’s mural of Che shows the inspiration he bestowed upon the US mural movements of the 1960’s. The mural resides in Los Angeles, a satyrical inverse of the WWI Uncle Sam propaganda poster except Che is featured saying, “We are not a minority.” It was inspired by Chicago youth movements at the time. It also stands as a monument against police brutality in eastern LA. In the mural, Che is wearing a brown beret with no star instead of his usual black beret, as homage to the militant Brown Berets of Chicago. In 1981 the mural was reproduced in Newsweek, US News and World Reports, The Herald Examiner, and Newsline. The mural then became very controversial in the US, as many Cuban exiles try to destroy or vandalize it several times.
Chapter 8: Christification of Che

Che supported Christians, exclaiming that Cubans are free to believe in whatever they wish to, refuting the “godless communist” image that was often tacked onto him. Che is compared to Jesus Christ in large part to the fact that his demise was very analogous to Christ. In many images of Che, he is seen barring a machine gun in the same fashion that Christ carried his cross. In Catholic Latin America, Che is an accretion tributary, but not substitute, to Christ. A very contributory factor to this is Freddy Alborta’s “Christ-like” photo of Che’s body after his execution. Bolivian literature also glorified Che’s humanitarianism, largely because it tends to view Latin American revolutions in biblical terms. Che is mentioned saving and protecting small animals, as well as tending to fellow guerilla fighters and enemy soldiers as a doctor. In many images Che is seen with a halo over his head, riddled with bullets. In the opinion of the author, Che will become more “Christ-like” as revolutionary violence subsides over time and his passionate nature and ideals become more prominent. To this day his most famous quote is, “The true revolutionary is guided by feelings of great love.”

Chapter 9: Che Dead, Che Vive

Revealing Che’s body after his execution was ill advised because of the sympathy it induced. Arnold Belkin’s variations on Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp,” is an example of this. It replaces the lifeless cadaver in Rembrandt’s painting with Che’s lifeless body from the execution photograph, showing a humanist/machinist dichotomy. The paintings themselves can be summed up as “a human sacrifice in an inhuman world.” The men surrounding Che in the painting are not just as men, but also robotic-sentient beings, intending to assert that history still stands divided on Che Guevara. Another attribute of Che’s execution that backfired on the US and Bolivia was that in the photograph they opened his eyes to prove that it was indeed Che Guevara. Because of this, it appears to make him seem alive, so as to make the image comparable to Holdbein’s “Christ in the Tomb” painting. This is what sparked so much religious interest in him. Rius, Mexico’s best known Leftist Cartoonist, did a comic book with Che being portrayed as, “A monk on a mission.”

Chapter 10: Twentieth Century Fox Che!

The utter failure of this Hollywood endeavor could shed some light as to the true economic nature of Che nostalgia. Film directors initially pursued the idea because of an envy for Che’s popularity as well as the success of the poster artists who admired him. Sy Bartlett wrote the original script for the movie, which was intent on obliterating sympathy for Che. In this first version he is shown as maniacal, violent, and his eventual death comes as a relief to the audience. Michael Wilson came along and wanted to make a more historically accurate version of the revolutionary. The end result was a script that was much more controversial, letting the audience decide on whether Che was a “Marxist saint” or a violent monster. This new script was still not entirely accurate, showing Che to be deeply disturbed and irrational. During the first days of filming, numerous directors from the board at Twentieth Century Fox complained and fired Michael Wilson. Sy Bartlett was rehired and allowed to change the script as he felt necessary, which in the end meant a deeply anti-Che movie. Because of these decisions, the film was an abomination of the real man and sunk almost instantaneously at the box office and among critics.

Copyrighting Che

Hernández-Reguant, Ariana. (2004). Copyrighting Che: Art and Authorship under Cuban Late Socialism. Public Culture, 16, 1-29.

The author, Ariana Hernandez-Reguant, uses a copyright lawsuit filed and won by Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, better known in Cuba as “Korda” to exemplify the shift in ideals regarding individual labor and intellectual property rights on a global scale in late socialist Cuba. She finds that in an attempt in the late 1990’s and early 21^st century to succumb to the benefits of neoliberal economic values, socialist Cuba loosened the reins on copyrights and royalties paid to artists from international markets, leading to personal wealth growth for the artists and creating a more independent middle class. The irony in the Cuban regime allowing for these changes while in an attempt to cater to demands from countries with neoliberal agendas is never fully developed. Instead she carefully outlines specific incidents and court cases that shaped this policy without explicitly drawing the connection between the expansions of individual rights over socialist images in an attempt to join trade organizations that foster privatization.

also interesting.

interesting

A poster of a Che t-shirt being sold on allposters.com