“There is only one thing valuable in art: the thing you cannot explain,” revolutionary French painter Georges Braque once said. The power of art is that it can be interpreted in many ways since it is seen through every person’s unique angles and points of view.
Art doesn’t have a specific meaning or exact telling; instead, one can choose how to view things and how they will take it. Everyone has different values and beliefs that will be part of their final view that the art is expressing. For example, during the women’s suffrage movement, “Suffragists used art to depict themselves as they were, working women, feminine women, who felt handicapped by their inability to vote. Suffragists’ famous sash and strict Edwardian dress code were used to signify their femininity, in direct response to anti-suffragist depictions of them.”
Only some people took it the way it was intended to because they had different beliefs on the topic. Although suffragettes wanted to portray to others their certain beliefs positively and want for the future through art, many took it differently because they weren’t in agreement with them even though their message might have been left “clear” for them.
Art as a form of protest is used for any type of protest, from political to environmental. Art is used in various ways to protest many different things such as climate change, inequality, and social justice. When discussing a topic, we can use art to explain what we see about the subject and how it impacts us.
Art explains what words cannot. Art is used by those who can’t speak in front of others or those who prefer to be calmer when protesting, so art is a sensitive and peaceful way to protest one’s beliefs and values to the world and the rest of the people around us.
Finally, art as a form of protest is the ability to express feelings whichever way they feel with no fear of judgment. When using art, there is no right or wrong way to express one’s feelings or certain beliefs when protesting. Art is interpreted in numerous ways, everyone can have their own opinion about certain artworks based on protest subjects. Not everyone agrees with the same opinion, so when creating artwork, everyone can give their own opinion on it and still respect one another with no violence.
To finalize art as a form of protest, art is incredibly important when protesting on specific subjects. Art is history to those in the future to acknowledge what their ancestors fought for and their beliefs on those subjects. Protesting through art creates a safe environment for advocate leaders and the youth interested in being part of something big.
Art as a form of protest is essential because it is interpreted in many different ways, it is for not only one subject but for countless topics, and using art to protest can be expressed with whichever feelings and opinions you might have because using art is a no-judgment zone. Art as a form of protest is a pristine way to convey and share one’s feelings.
Written by Alejandra Sanchez of Seneca Valley High School
Photo Courtesy of Flickr