Along with fellow TGP Taller de Gráfica Popular artists Alberto Beltrán and Arturo Garcia Bustos, Mariana Yampolsky worked for one year as an apprentice to Pablo O’Higgins and Alfredo Zalce. This poster is an example of her early work with Bustos. It was created for the Continental American Congress for Peace in Mexico City in September 1949. The work is typical of the posters the Taller created for rallies, conferences, organized demonstrations, and other gatherings for social or political causes. Here, a Mexican peasant family is set in the foreground of the image. The mother holds an infant child as the father confronts the swords of the militia, his sledgehammer raised to defend his family. This type of subject matter became emblematic of the TGP and their work.

from Costa, Para la Gente: Art, Politics and Cultural Identity of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Notre Dame, 2009)