Is Everything Political?
By Leila Penn
In a world now seemingly dominated by political chaos, it is increasingly difficult to avoid political interaction and commentary. No matter how much you try! With protests happening left, right and centre in reaction to current events, visual artists are becoming leaders in documenting and commenting upon these events. As the Feminist artist Grace Chin comments in her essay ‘Do Artists and Designers Have an Obligation To Be Political?’ published online in 2017, ‘I can’t help feeling overwhelmed by the current volume of political and social strife, a sentiment I know I’m not alone in having’. She definitely isn’t alone in reacting in this way and it’s heartening to see someone else put these sentiments into words.
http://www.designsponge.com/2017/09/do-artists-and-designers-have-an-obligation-to-be-political.html
Brain Explode (2021)
She is correct though in saying that artists do have the opportunity to use their creative voice to discuss current events, even though they are in no way obligated to do so. I think what is most important is how those voices are heard and received by the audience. I agree with Chin, in that we should be very open to the different levels of social class, background and opinion of those involved in order to understand the importance of complicated and divisive issues from a broad viewpoint. I do, however, disagree with the statement, ‘artists should understand where their work stands in relation to the contemporary political and social environment’. Of course, if this is in terms of depicting a political or social message then there needs to be a level of understanding, but if the purpose is to create artwork simply for the sake of art, ‘art for art's sake’ divorced from any didactic, moral, political, or utilitarian function, I don’t believe this need necessarily apply. Not all art is, after all, politically motivated.
Other Sources:
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No… It’s a rabbit… (2021)
The roll of art in politics is a broad subject and has been an issue nearly as long as people have created art, as can be seen in the examples below from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century French Neoclassical movement.
Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland (1807)
Jacques-Louis David, "Oath of the Horatii," 1784. Louvre Museum. Paris. France.
Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps or Bonaparte at the St Bernard Pass, 1800-1
Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland (1807)
The huge variety of platforms for creativity available today promotes increasingly diverse art production methods and a correspondingly ever-growing audience. Politicised depictions are everywhere, from the newspaper you read, to the train you take to work, to the slogan T shirt on your back. Films, literature, music and a variety of other media now provide platforms to convey powerful messages. Although Chin says, ‘it’s impossible to entirely control a viewer’s reaction to artwork’ I would say that this lack of control could be exploited and experimented with through the growing variety of available contemporary platforms.
As I experiment with my own work in reaction to political issues, I find myself looking for a light-hearted approach to take amongst the heavy weight of negativity often employed. Trump is a name we find on our lips all too often. His considerably outlandish approach to almost everything is questionable, as is that tan…
In my politically proactive work, I take a similar approach of the hacktivist group ‘Anonymous,’ a decentralised international activist/hacktivist collective/movement that is widely known for its various cyberattacks against governments, government institutions and government agencies that has worked to spread the real truth about pressing social and cultural issues. This allows me to be ruthless in my approach, especially in respect of my depictions of the ex-president. Another huge influence on my work is the activist artist group INDECLINE, another decentralised art collective but with members in groups across America and other countries characterised as an underground movement of activists, musicians, graffiti writers and photographers. Like INDECLINE I have very strong feelings about the man and the cesspit that is his life, some details of which have been brought to light but have, like most of his crimes, somehow been overlooked or ignored and, certainly, unpunished. Are we just going to forget he said he’d date his own daughter?
The Emperor Has No Balls (2016)
INDECLINE are the leaders when it comes to depicting the truth about Trump. From their comments on the ex-president’s lack of balls to creating a satirical graveyard of everything he has killed during his presidency is only a small sample of how far they are willing to go. I am hugely inspired by the group’s confrontational approach, which I use in the artwork I produce. It is something I live by. A lot of the time the truth hurts, but that only means there is room for change.
Trump Cemetery (2018)
In the documentary The Art of Protest by the activist group INDECLINE, the group explores the progressive development of protest art, the causes for protest and, therefore, the importance of it. The short film gives a detailed insight into the group itself and how it operates for change. Their identity shielded, spokespeople for INDECLINE explain the purpose of the activist events that the group carries out, which actually relates very closely to the reasoning behind Chin’s entire essay and more so to the title ‘Do Artists and Designers Have an Obligation To Be Political?’. The members of INDECLINE strongly believe they have an obligation to be political and that they need to utilise their talents in the arts for the greater good.
After watching this video, I was very inspired to develop my own political voice in the hope of showcasing my own views on current events. I might, in my own small way, make a difference.
My first piece is a comment on the statement by Trump mentioned before, "She does have a very nice figure... If [Ivanka] weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her". There are no words to justify this statement and why should there be? As can be seen from my own interpretation, I haven’t held back. This odious statement made me feel sick to my stomach and I wanted my audience to feel exactly the same way when looking at this illustration. I’ve taken the content to the extreme with the intent of being visually shocking but let’s be honest, given the character of the man if this had happened, I wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
