“The Artifact Piece” by James Luna is a performance art piece where Luna aims to showcase the objectification of indigenous people. He lays in a vitrine with objects around him as though he’s an anthropological exhibit, his body labeled. I chose this piece because it is a perfect example of how protest art is asking the observer to shift from a passive role into an active one. Luna highlights the objectification of indigenous people not just by acting as an anthropological exhibit, but showcasing how the observer cannot help but maintain the role of gawking at a living indigenous man as though he were an artifact. The piece is highlighting how a passive object viewer may at times be a voyeur. It is not uncommon for art pieces showcasing the pain of various oppressed groups to become estranged from their meaning in galleries and are nothing more but objects of contemplation for wealthy individuals or for museums to steal sacred artifacts as if the cultural significance is meaningless in the face of colonial curiosity.
Why Artistic Activism?:
“We may like to think of politics as a purely rational business, where sensible people logically discuss and debate the issues at hand, come to a reasoned decision, and then judiciously act. Certainly this is how politics has been taught to us in our civics classes. But as recent developments in cognitive science suggest, humans don’t think and behave this way: we make sense of our world through stories and symbols that frame the information we receive and then act accordingly.”
This is why activism through art tends to be so effective. It’s not just numbers to interpret, it appeals to our humanity. Historically, humans have shared ideas throughout mythology and storytelling because it’s easier to digest information and retain it that way; it gives us something to think about and interpret for ourselves.
“The principles governing civic action are more likely to be found in the worlds of popular culture and entertainment, and artistic expression and reception, than in textbooks of political science.”
Lived experience typically tends to be more important than theory. Rules and regulations written down somewhere for people to blindly follow are rarely ever executed as intended, because humans don’t work like that. Humans have a tendency towards the subjective over the objective, because it will always be more tangible and immediately understood.
An Introduction to Activist Art:
“A ban on the painting was announced in the newspaper and it caused an outrage that forced the royal court to give their permission for the exhibition of the painting.”
Similar to this situation, in Palestine, poetry has been a big part of their resistance to Israel’s oppression, and in response to that Israel has targeted Palestinian artists and poets in order to silence the opposition to their attempt to eradicate both Palestinian people and their culture. Governments banning or discrediting artworks shows the power that art carries and the influence it has on our culture.
“According to their survey, only five percent of the artists in the Modern Art sections of the museum are female, but 85 percent of the nudes depict women.”
This reminds me of how in the 1800s women, even though they were often depicted in other artworks and typically with at least some level of nudity, weren’t allowed to attend life drawing studios and they were rarely ever allowed into art schools. This fight has been going on for centuries, and it’s important that people continue to strive for gender equality in art. Women aren’t just muses for other’s creations.
The 25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II:
“And what is the difference, anyway, between protest art and art that is merely political?”
“So I think participation also, in some way, is a part of protest.”
This question is a difficult one to answer, but from my perspective it seems oftentimes protest art finds a way to include the viewer in their work; the focus of protest art is eliciting action, which politically is seldom an individual task, whilst the focus of political art is the expression of a particular stance or passion. Tying into the second quote, while all art either consciously or unconsciously is considerate of the observer to some degree and wants to provoke contemplation in its viewers, protest art asks the observer to shift out of the passive stance of a witness and into motion.
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