City Lights Store Banners

History of City Lights

Historical Tour of City Lights Bookstore

Howl's 50th Anniversary

City Lights Store Banners

The City Lights Zapatista Mural

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For the past four years, City Lights has been collaborating with the SF Print Collective on a series of provocative banners that adorn the façade of the bookstore. This is an ongoing project to claim public space for meaningful expression, an alternative to the advertising and propaganda that usually bombards us from all sides as we walk or drive through the city.

The banners are intended to capture a spirit of debate and dissent, providing commentary on current events and/or messages being sent to us by the government and corporate media. They are meant to stimulate passersby into dialogue and reflection, and these latest were unfurled in June, timed to reach the waves of visitors who come to San Francisco from all over the U.S. and beyond, and who we hope will carry the image and the message – and its impact – with them.

See larger image	"Two Plus Two is Five. The Earth is Flat. God is on Our Side. War Will Make Us Safe. Mission Accomplished." June 2005 Photograph © Patrick Piazza
"Tyranny cuts off the singer's head But the voice from the bottom of the well Returns to the secret springs of the earth And rises out of nowhere through the mouths of the people" –Pablo Neruda, translated by Alistair Reid June 2003 Photograph © Larry Keenan	See larger image
See larger image	"Stop War and War Makers" November 2002 Photograph © Edward Brooks
"Dissent is Not UnAmerican" October 2001 Photograph © Larry Keenan	See larger image

All banners were designed by the SF Print Collective

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