A lot of people think of art history as simply being the study of artworks and artists from yesteryear – and in some respects they’re correct. Yet, what people often overlook is how such a practice enables us to explore, and subsequently better understand, the times in which those artworks and artists existed. As I’ve mentioned before, historians tend to separate the study of History and Art History and instead make reference to more seemingly factual sources of evidence, such as diary entries, newspapers and television footage. Yet the further back we go, the less of that ‘factual’ stuff exists and that is when historians have to rely more upon the likes of tapestries, architecture, artefacts – or in other words, art.
For many Ancient and medieval historians alike however, there is still a reluctance to rely upon such sources. Why? Well because these pieces aren’t literary. They don’t express to us in writing, which many perceive to be the clearest form of communication, exactly what was going on at the time. So, even when historians attempt to observe the Norman Conquests, the Vikings or The Greeks, they still tend to overlook our artworks and cling on to written sources such as Herodotus, Bede and William of Jumieges. Artworks are also seen to be easily manipulated and less truthful when compared to literary sources: ‘OK so you drew a cave painting of you spearing a mammoth – but did you really?’ One might ask. In this sense, fact-finding is seen as an incredibly important aspect of a historian’s work, with many thinking of themselves as detectives more so than scholars. Yet, as I argued in an earlier issue of the magazine: the truth doesn’t matter.
Indeed, as every artist, living or dead, realises; it is not the truth that matters but expression. If an artist from two hundred years ago painted something that never existed, then many academics may cast it aside as being unreliable evidence. Yet I argue that they shouldn’t. Why? Because whilst that work may not be a realistic depiction of something, such as a person or an event, it is still an expression of the time from which it came. It can inform us what the mood of society may have been, what was important to them, their values, traditions, religion, relationships, fears, hopes, aspirations. Though, perhaps most importantly, artworks from history reveal to us not the truth but what people saw at the time as being true to them - because history is dictated by what people perceive to be the truth.
In Europe during much of the early to mid-twentieth century, people thought it was true that Jews were subhuman, whilst those in Russia and later China believed that everyone was equal. These were perceived truths that led to the holocaust and the dire famines that swept through Stalin and Mao’s empires. In our modern-day world, many people think it is true that climate change is destroying the planet, and so are putting in place policies to prevent the harmful environmental impacts that such changes may have. Of course, from propaganda posters to everyday graffiti, these things that society has perceived to be true have been reflected in our artworks. Yet there is one art form that seeks to question our truths that the media and our governments frequently espouse; one that we can observe in order to understand societies’ counter-movements and cultures: protest art.
Protest art emerged primarily in the twentieth century when society became that much freer, since before that, questioning those in power or societies norms could quite literally cost you your head or several years of your life in prison. So, let’s have a look at some of the perceived truths that protest art has looked to question and debunk in our modern era:
Whilst the Russian government look to justify their invasion of Ukraine by espousing that Ukraine is an inherent part of Russia, it’s clear that there are people inside Russia who question the Kremlin’s propaganda.77 year old Yelena Osipova here for instance, holds up a poster stating ‘No War’ and ‘International Solidarity’. Yet for Yelena to make such statements is actually quite risky. As it’s currently illegal in Putin’s Russia to call it a war and not the ‘Special Military Operation Putin deems it to be.
Contrary to the now seemingly dated and paternalistic, ‘Feed the World’ by BAND AID, there will always be snow in Africa (it’s a massive continent) and the majority of regions, from Zimbabwe to Kenya, are also able to grow food in abundance. There’s furthermore hundreds of millions of Christians in Africa, so it’s highly likely that many will be aware that it will be Christmas day this year, just as they did when BAND AID launched in 1984.
Such messages are put forward in this clip by ‘Mama Hope’, an African activist group that looks to debunk some of the Western myths surrounding Africa and African people.
Enslaved and later segregated. For centuries, black people in the U.S. were thought of as being sub-human and even today many face discrimination. This poster is representative of earlier demonstrations, whereby many black workers (mainly males) wanted America to live up to its ethos that ‘all men are created equal’. This poster in particular is from a demonstration in Memphis, which was held in the air by 1,300 black sanitation workers who were protesting against awful working conditions and miserably low wages.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, the AIDS Pandemic devastated the lives of millions, yet it was chiefly seen asa LGBTQ+ problem. The press for instance, frequently branded the virus as being the ‘gay plague’ and there’s even reports of landlords evicting sufferers of the virus from their homes. Such ignorance, combined with social stigma and a fear of contracting the disease, permeated deep into society. Consequently, many government and medical institutions throughout these decades did very little to alleviate the AIDS crisis that was unfolding.
In the United States Avram Finkelstein founded the Silence=Death project in 1987, a movement that looked to tackle the ignorance and subsequent inaction of those in power to alleviate the AIDS pandemic. In fact, many in the LGBTQ+community believed that the government was so inactive (particularly the Reagan administration) that such passivity was equivalent to genocide. It was for this reason that Avram decided to use the Pink Triangle to represent his campaign; the one that Nazis had used to identify ‘gay men and lesbians’ during the holocaust.
Ultimately, it was through campaign’s such as Avram’s that pushed governments to tackle the AIDS pandemic and encouraged society to be that much more accepting of sufferers. Yet it also helped to reclaim the pink triangle for the LGBTQ+ community: transforming something hateful to something to wear with pride.
Comments