Maputo-Tashkent-Havana. Art Education and International Solidarity

Calvert 22 Gallery’s new core research strand, Socialist Friendship, begins with this one-day seminar.

Polly Savage explores the cultural legacies of transnational solidarity networks during the Cold War, with particular reference to Soviet support for African liberation movements.

Following the experiences of art students from post-independence Mozambique who studied in the USSR and Cuba, this talk by Polly Savage considers how notions of Socialist Friendship fostered a spirit of international resistance in the arts which continues to resonate today.

Led by curator Mark Nash, in collaboration with a number of leading researchers in the field, Socialist Friendship is a research programme and exhibition project that aims to collect and disseminate knowledge on connections between Africa and the Soviet Union, predominantly in the post-war period.

This is the first in a series of five events taking place as part of Socialist Friendship. The session also includes an introduction to the research strand by Mark Nash. Other participants include Kate Cowcher, Ros Gray and Basia Cummings.

Polly Savage is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London, and Associate Lecturer in the Department of History of Art and Screen Media at Birkbeck College. She was previously Assistant Curator at the October Gallery and is currently carrying out AHRC funded doctoral research about the cultural impact of the Cold War in Africa at the Royal College of Art, London.