Fred Martins has created numerous campaign posters on social issues which are emotionally charged and investigates into the struggles of the people that have been brushed aside. He created ‘Global Warming ’ an art series that showcased troubled wildlife to protest climate change, and was published by the United Nations 2015 Global Goals For Sustainable Society.
When Fred begins painting to show what he feels and to raise his voice against cruelty and inequality he adapted his own technique by showing his great effort on Afro combs. Fred Martins uses Afro combs to depicts all the suffering and frustrations pro African activists faced and also as a symbol to celebrate African heroes. Like the structure of a comb, the hearts of Africans have torn apart and broken into pieces and just like a comb, Africa wants to get free from the bounds and hatred. Fred portrays the life of Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba and Fela Kuti by using Afro combs. In his images, Fred uses the orange background that depicts the prisoners and jail, like the prisoners uniform, his images’ backgrounds are orange and shows the hard experience of all the past activists and their suffering in jail.