THE NEW LIGHT OF FREEDOM
Rebellion against the Empire began as a tentative, fragile, and extremely dangerous endeavor. At first, the newborn Empire had the overwhelming goodwill of its populace on its side. The last great war for independence was too costly to repeat again, no matter how well founded the cause. Objection to Imperial policy was tantamount to separatism. Voices were silenced by well-meaning, but shortsighted, allies for the sake of the “greater good.”
But as the Empire expanded its influence and grew in power, it became bolder in its expression of control. Far from the insulated Core Worlds, where the affluent grew in wealth, the frontier worlds of the Outer Rim bore the brunt of Imperial expansion. Without the oversight of the Senate, the Empire could exact a far more brutal brand of authority. Worlds that never saw the need to join the Republic were being coerced into inclusion in the Empire by the end of a blaster. Once part of the Empire, they had no choice but to cooperate, sustained by unyielding surveillance, occupied forces, and harsh labor conditions meant to transform frontier resources into Imperial supplies.
The oppressed peoples of the Empire would attempt to spread word of their plight—often through anguished art that starkly illustrated their changing fortunes. But the Empire’s agents of censorship drove such displays deep underground.
For years, attempts at open rebellion were fractious, especially in the Outer Rim. Unity was rare, as pockets of resistance were predisposed to suspect potential allies of being competing militias at best, Imperial spies at worst. Despite the best efforts of early organizers such as Senator Bail Organa, Jan Dodonna, Jun Sato, and Hera Syndulla, the Rebellion refused to coalesce into its full potential.
The architect of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma was a loyalist senator during the Clone Wars, representing her home planet of Chandrila. Alongside such political allies as Bail Organa, Mothma watched the rise of the Galactic Empire with growing concern.
Some rebel-minded allies in the Senate believed that a diplomatic solution could be brokered with the Empire if the right negotiators would step forward. Loose cannons, like Saw Gerrera of Onderon, Cham Syndulla of Ryloth, or the Plasma Devils of Outer Rim, created repeated complications for this political rebellion by striking at nonmilitary targets and causing appalling collateral damage. These violence-minded renegades saw the outbreak of civil war as unavoidable and preferred to bring the fight to the Empire on their own terms.
Though history now records the contributions of Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo to the Galactic Civil War, they were not household names (with the exception of Leia) during the time of the conflict. Very little art features these heroes.
Mon Mothma of Chandrila had a plan for the Alliance to Restore the Republic—an organization that would serve as civil government and paramilitary force. She just needed to unite the disparate rebel fronts through trust, faith, and a common goal. What diplomacy failed to do, art often accomplished.
The hampering of artistic expression in the time of the Empire hastened rebellious impulses among the subjugated. Cut off from traditional channels, disaffected artists turned the streets of oppressed worlds into their canvases. Some were deeply secretive, never revealing their true identities and letting a clever alias garner accolades and threats. Others were more transparent, by virtue of being in positions of influence, protected by political contacts and seen by millions.
Sabine Wren of Mandalore, Janyor of Bith, Palo Jamabie of Naboo, Furva Keil of Alderaan—the list goes on. These artists began exposing the excesses of the Empire for what they were: tyrannical acts of a draconian regime. Some of these artists, like Jamabie, disappeared at the hand of the Imperial Security Bureau, becoming martyrs for the cause. Others, like Wren, famously took up arms. Still others, like Janyor, continued their artistic rebellion by formally joining the Alliance and broadcasting their message within its command structure.
In the lead-up to the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance finally galvanized into a cohesive and potent entity to strike an indelible blow with the destruction of the Empire’s Death Star superweapon. Within the Alliance’s civil government was the plainly labeled Propaganda Bureau. The strategists within this office sought to undo the damage of Imperial messaging, which steadily branded the rebels as lunatics, brigands, and terrorists. The Bureau distributed more than twenty thousand recordings showing Yavin 4 telemetry of the destruction of the Death Star. It encouraged worlds to craft their own messages of rebellion using the imagery as a foundation. The distant depredations of the Empire and remote actions of the Rebellion suddenly became localized for thousands of worlds. The messages of freedom and unity in the face of tyranny began hitting home.
In this way, rebel propaganda became the primary instrument of recruitment. Without an Academy to call its own, the Rebellion counted on its propaganda specialists to disseminate its message within the Imperial Academies, schools, and universities. Frontier worlds that had not been settled and subjugated by the Empire were prime targets for the rebel message.
As the Rebellion escalated its military engagements against the massive Imperial war machine, the work of sympathetic artists made clear its objectives. Their art became rallying points for diverse cultures that would not see eye-to-eye if not for the common threat embodied by the Empire.
For those within the Alliance, Princess Leia was more than just a leader. She was an inspiring symbol. Leading the charge of rebellion since her teenage years, Leia embodied tenacity and courage and appeared in artwork shared only within the rebel ranks.
Marko Manev
JOIN THE SAGROUP
Pollux Hax (concept); Vanya Sha (execution)
SAGroup—a contraction of Sub-Adult Group—was a rapidly growing brigade of youths fervently loyal to the tenets of the New Order. Indoctrinated at a young age by standardized curricula spread throughout the Core Worlds and beyond, school children were taught that SAGroup was a fast track into the Imperial political arena for those youths who, for whatever reason, elected to forgo military service and early Academy enrollment. Although military imagery was common in SAGroup recruitment images, SAGroup cadets became a different type of servant of the Empire—one that was essential to the administration of the government and its bureaucracy.
Steven Thomas
LIBERTY FOR ALL
Warrchallra (concept); Tavris Bahzel (execution)
An early piece of rebellious art that predates the formal formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, this piece has a potent and simple message. With the rise of the Empire came the softening and then outright repeal of laws that criminalized slavery in the galaxy. Exceptions were made by callously reclassifying a number of species as non-sentient. The Wookiees of Kashyyyk bore the significant brunt of this institutionalized xenophobia, as the Empire allowed their use as slave labor. A Wookiee freedom fighter conceived of this piece, though it was later toned down by a Twi’lek illustrator as the original concept was far more graphic and bloody, befitting an outraged Wookiee temperament.
Russell Walks
WHAT WILL YOU DO
Cepa Bonshu
While the bulk of Imperial service in the Core Worlds was volunteer based, in time, the pressing needs of Imperial expansion required conscription with steep quotas. It was not just armed-forces service—the Empire began compelling citizens to fulfill its enormous demands for support staff, construction, and other labor. Resistance to the Empire transformed from an abstract political stance of ideals to a more immediate need for freedom. Some of the earliest messages against the Empire came from family members and community groups who had their numbers raided by callous Imperials carrying out a distant bureaucrat’s whims.
This rare political work from this early era features Darth Vader as a central design, but it is no accident. The artist hails from Riosa, a world where Darth Vader oversaw the subjugation and the impressment of its population into labor camps.
Adam Rabalais
REBELS ARE TERRORISTS
Artist Unknown
In the early stages of the Rebellion, the hearts and minds of the citizenry proved to be the most powerful battleground. The vast machinery of COMPNOR and Imperial propaganda bureaus could quickly transform a rebel victory into a terrorist strike, complete with inflated casualty reports and manufactured atrocities. Particularly vexing to the nascent Rebellion was a lack of coordination among cells to verify the truth or expose the lies of such claims. Furthermore, there were well-documented incidents where overzealous factions, acting independently of the larger Rebellion, carried out devastating attacks that resulted in civilian deaths. The rebels led by Saw Gerrera were one notorious example, and the Empire capitalized on their indiscriminate actions to paint the entire rebel movement as bloodthirsty monsters.
Brian Miller
STAY ON TARGET
Artist Unknown
The effectiveness of small, hyperdrive-equipped snubfighters came as a surprise to the Imperial military, who clung to the Clone Wars doctrine that space superiority was won and held with capital warships. Early strikes by rebel starfighters strained this philosophy, as the lightning attacks by rebel factions split apart Imperial convoys and left even mighty Star Destroyers reeling from pinpoint proton-torpedo volleys. These were not (for the most part) Academy graduates piloting cutting-edge vehicles—these were self-trained fighter jockeys flying outdated craft that had bloodied the nose of Imperial giants.
The Rebel Alliance romanticization of the everybeing fighter pilot truly began after the Battle of Yavin. For his safety, Rebel messagesmiths avoided publicizing Luke Skywalker’s name, but the tale of a young Rebel pilot with minimal combat experience who destroyed the Empire’s ultimate weapon was too powerful to keep secret for long.
Adam Rabalais
REMEMBER ALDERAAN
Oba Dunimea
It is no small irony that the very instrument with which the Emperor intended to cow the Rebellion galvanized it into the Alliance proper. Prior to the emergence of the Death Star threat, the various rebel factions lacked unity. Some believed a negotiated peace was possible, that the Emperor could be made through political channels to relinquish his powers to the Senate. Others felt civil war was inevitable. As the indelible proof of evil, the Death Star made it clear to the rebel leaders the scale of the threat they faced. Alderaan’s destruction spread that message beyond Alliance command. Citizens across the Empire could now clearly see what the Emperor was capable of, and why he had to be stopped.
Chris Trevas
DEATH IS ALL THEY BRING
Janyor of Bith
The destruction of Alderaan inspired an outpouring of outrage and sympathy from artists across the galaxy. That the government could commit so callous an act of mass slaughter was a terrifying realization. The Empire attempted to explain the destruction as an act of security—Alderaan was revealed to be behind the growing terrorism of the Rebellion, who were on the brink of striking at a vulnerable civilian target. But the general populace did not believe it. Putting aside crippling sorrows, the Rebel Alliance saw an opportunity to strike while the galaxy’s eyes were open. Its military succeeded in destroying the Death Star. Its artists kept the threat of the Death Star alive through reminders of the Empire’s depravity.
Eric Tan
UNTITLED (DEFACED “JOIN”)
Sabine Wren (after Coba Dunivee)
Predating the Battle of Yavin, a rash of defaced Imperial placards, posters, and murals appeared, particularly in the loosely patrolled settlements of the Outer Rim. The most recognized practitioner of such underground art was a vandal the Empire simply called “the artist,” based in the Lothal sector. Subsequently identified as Sabine Wren of Mandalore, this then-teenaged saboteur used colorful paint bombs as well as traditional explosives to make loud, attention-getting displays meant to undermine the illusion of Imperial indomitability. As part of an early rebel cell led by Hera Syndulla, Wren was able to spread her reputation as a revolutionary force beyond Lothal.
Eric Tan
UNTITLED (JOIN THE REBELLION)
Sabine Wren (Disputed)
Following the spread of Sabine Wren’s graffiti, an image bearing a concrete message began to appear on Outer Rim worlds—with an actual call to join the nascent Rebellion and a portrait of Wren’s Mandalorian helmet. Wren claimed no direct authorship of the work. The dissemination of the stencils required to create the image was facilitated through pirate comm transmissions and shadow HoloNet data nodes. Though she may not be the actual artist who first defined this image, she clearly inspired its creation and its usage in the years prior to the Battle of Yavin.
Cliff Chiang
UNTITLED (LOOSE LIPS)
Artist Unknown
Found in Imperial military industrial facilities at Kuat, Scarif, and Fondor, this unauthorized and unapproved artwork had a forbidden popularity among Imperial engineers. Playing on the Imperial position of zero tolerance for insubordination and the growing fearsome reputation of the Dark Lord, Darth Vader. The piece is uncharacteristically whimsical (if macabre) for Imperial government art. Some factory managers allowed its presence at classified construction facilities, for the underlying message was valid even if the execution was unorthodox. Legend has it Lord Vader himself tracked down and summarily executed the original artist for a lack of respect; however, this story cannot be verified.
Eric Tan
IMPERIAL CAMPAIGN POSTER 34.371.C
Coba Dunivee, COMPNOR
The last known piece by Coba Dunivee, a prolific COMPNOR artist whose art dominated the early years of the Outer Rim Imperial expansion, is an unusual piece. Eschewing the strong, brutalist constructivism of the traditional Imperial propaganda art, this piece is looser, not as defined as earlier works. Some historians speculate this art was a direct response to the growing popularity of Sabine Wren’s work, with Dunivee attempting to parrot the urban outsider art approach. If so, such a tactic proved to be Dunivee’s undoing, as Grand Moff Tarkin took personal affront to such “sloppy” work and had Dunivee arrested for trumped-up charges of sedition. No records of Dunivee after this event exist and the original artwork files were destroyed.
DECLARATION OF REBELLION
Artist Unknown
This example, found on the world of Ghorman, is one of many independently produced posters excerpting Senator-in-Exile Mon Mothma’s stirring words that marked her formal declaration of rebellion against the Empire. Now considered one of the foundational documents of the New Republic, the declaration was made from an undisclosed location and propagated through the HoloNet and other channels in an effort to undo the Imperial efforts to paint the rebellion as the work of bloodthirsty anarchists.
The statement emphasized Emperor Palpatine’s crimes against the galaxy and called his rule unconstitutional. It was carefully couched in the language of the law in an effort to legitimize the rebel cause. The rebellion was not a nihilistic engine of destruction. It sought to build, and as such, the declaration made clear the rebel alliance’s true name: the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Fragments of the Declaration would soon adorn all manner of everyday items and message platforms. In some cases these were directly crafted by the Alliance, but more often they were created by grassroots revolutionaries seeking a unifying message and banner to fight under.
Chris Trevas
Rosanna Brockley
FLY FOR FREEDOM
Sabine Wren
This art was never intended for recruitment. An illustration done by Sabine Wren, it showcases the flying power of Phoenix Squadron, a hard-hitting contingent of A-wing fighters that raided Imperial supply depots during the early days of the Galactic Civil War. Originally intended as a gift for lead pilot, Hera Syndulla, the artwork caught the eye of Mon Mothma, who thought it exemplified the effectiveness of their fledgling fighter forces. Mothma requested Wren complete it and add a call to action.
Electronic copies of this artwork were propagated through the Imperial flight academies’ data networks, intended to show an alternative to Imperial indoctrination that by emphasized the prowess of the TIE-series starfighters. In truth, the fighters, when paired with unimaginative Imperial tactics, were a hindrance and no match for the superior fighting capacity suggested by this artwork.
Sam Dawson
IMPERIAL DOMINATION
Artist Unknown
A curious example reflecting the uncertainty of the times, this piece was discovered in a datapad of a stolen Imperial shuttle about four years after the Battle of Yavin. Examination of the original file could not determine provenance, but Alliance Intelligence strongly believed it to be a work in progress from COMPNOR. It was rare for Darth Vader to be included in any official work. Rarer still for the Death Star to appear.
Without altering the work at all, the Rebel Alliance distributed the image on contested worlds. Rather than have to craft an image declaring the dangers of the Empire, it simply used the Empire’s own message as a warning. These are the values of the Imperial military. This is its might. This is the fate of worlds that would resist it. However, the fear struck by the Empire was beginning to fade. Through the efforts of the Alliance, citizens were audience to powerful lessons that the Empire was not invincible.
Cliff Chiang
REBUILD THE DEATH STAR
Artist Unknown
This apparently unauthorized poster was found aboard an Imperial materials transport destined for the classified second Death Star. It was recovered by Bothan spies after the said battle station was eliminated by the Rebel Alliance. The first Death Star had been fraught with controversy, thus extant messaging surrounding the second iteration is extremely rare. Some in the Imperial hierarchy, risking treason, openly referred to the overseeing Tarkin Initiative think tank that birthed both battle stations as little more than a military boondoggle.
The first Death Star was supposed to be emblematic of unstoppable Imperial military and technological might, but instead became symbolic of engineering failures, administrative overreach, managerial incompetence, and Imperial hubris. The second Death Star underwent construction in this climate of uncertainty, but nonetheless the Emperor insisted it be completed on time. Supervisor Moff Jerjerrod was less of a loose cannon than administrators past and felt the pressure to please his unforgiving overlords. Perhaps this poster was an anemic attempt to whip up some semblance of patriotism around a project that only raised uncomfortable questions about effectiveness.
Russell Walks
EXPOSE, PURSUE, DESTROY
Dasita Lyros, COMPNOR
As open combat between the Rebellion and the Empire ushered the galaxy into a period of civil war, the soldier art that had previously depicted Imperials as sentries and vanguards became more dynamic. Troops were now depicted in action, and the sense of glory infused in this period of illustration evoked some of the more rousing pieces of the Clone Wars. The Imperial aesthetic was uniformly polished, creating an air of artifice that ran counter to the intent of adventurism. The designers (in this case Dasita Lyros of COMPNOR) had never set foot on a battleground. Her models were carefully posed in clean, controlled conditions, a far cry from the chaos of the battlefront.
Russell Walks
COMPNOR RECRUITMENT
Dasita Lyros, COMPNOR
In the Core Worlds, support for the Galactic Empire was the strongest, as the Emperor’s policy benefited the insulated heart of the galaxy the most. However, loyalty purges of government institutions were frequent. COMPNOR orchestrated such displays and rewarded citizens who reported suspicious agitators in their communities. One reward for loyalists was a chance to be featured in the poster art for COMPNOR imagery, to be held up before the Empire as a model citizen. In practice, cronyism kept the actual field of candidates limited to those who already enjoyed a privileged relationship with COMPNOR officials. This piece actually features the artist, Dasita Lyros, along with Captain Edmos Khurgee, who was rumored to be romantically entangled with Lyros.
Adam Rabalais
STAND STRONG
Hobisan Vandron
Prior to the destruction of the Death Star and the dissolution of the Senate, Emperor Palpatine had all but disappeared from public view. When his image was required, often at Empire Day celebrations, official portraiture depicted him instead, and a delegate (such as Grand Vizier Mas Amedda) saying words on his behalf. Such portraiture was invariably of Palpatine in his prime, prior to his disfigurement suffered on the eve of the Empire’s founding. After the Empire was shown to be vulnerable by the rebel victory at Yavin, imagery of Palpatine as he truly appeared became more common, in an effort to show strength and resolution.
Cliff Chiang
UNTITLED (HE CAN’T DO IT ALONE)
Artist Unknown
This unofficial piece saw popularity in the Core Worlds, particularly on Academy campuses. Though history now has spread awareness of Darth Vader and his role in the Imperial hierarchy, for most of the Galactic Civil War, he was not a public figure in the eyes of the average galactic citizen. Within Imperial military circles, however, his reputation grew—particularly after the destruction of the Death Star, when he was given charge to root out the Rebellion that had scored such a blow against the Empire. Although the Empire frowned upon unapproved messages cluttering its carefully controlled public communications campaign, this image fit within its tolerance levels and was allowed to propagate. Of alarming note is the resurgence of this artwork in First Order territory in recent years.