Art and Political Discourse

Shruti Shila Saikia 

INTRODUCTION: 

Art and political discourse have from time to time changed the perception of the masses to convey a powerful message to their rulers. Art was not always used as a political tool by the people to express their dissent against the state. It was used as a religious tool in the middle ages to moralize the people. The church used various symbols to evoke fear and devotion among its followers to uphold the preaching of the church. The visual representation of art used by the church had an emotional element which helped it to propagate their religion. But things changed with the advent of the enlightening age when political philosophers used it to convey the ideals of the secular modern nation-state. (Errouane, 2017). 

Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the champions of the renaissance period who used art to raise his voice to bring reforms in the society by bridging science and art. His art touched upon various tabooed topics of society. He was an advocate of renaissance humanism. However, art was used by rulers since ages to record history and leave an impression on the subjects of their legacy. The memory of Henry VIII and his wife has been beautifully preserved by the artwork of Hans Holbein (Hunt, 2019). The intertwining character between art and politics since the enlightenment age has given an edge to political movements to convince the people to bring revolutionary changes. 

THE PERSUASIVE POWER OF ART IN POLITICS: 

Art has the emotional characteristic to influence its viewers. It can stir both emancipation and fear. It has the power to influence people. Frank Möller (2016) writes, “Art can be understood as a form of political discourse; as a descriptive, an interpretive, or an explicitly critical approximation; or as a vehicle with which to transcend the political. Art complicates our understandings and perceptions of the world, altering the discursive frames within which the political is negotiated.” 

Transformations in society are influenced by art to a large extent. It has the power to make an impact on the people through its visual representation. Rhetorics is often considered to be a powerful political tool to influence the masses. However, through rhetorics, masses may be manipulated with the content of the speech. Political discourse through art gives the audiences an opportunity to interpret it according to their understanding. This transcending character of art makes it an important persuasive tool to influence people. It gives people the power to have their own understanding of the subject matter of art. 

In contemporary times, the excesses of the state and burning issues like migration, racism and terrorism, etc have evoked artists to paint the human rights violations to bring the attention of the world. Art has become an important persuasive tool to convince people to be concerned about issues that need immediate attention. Lawdy Mama by Barkley L Hendricks is a very persuasive painting which celebrates the beauty of black women. The painting depicting the poet’s cousin is an iconic work which represented a black body in a time when there was a lack of representation of black people in mainstream art. One cannot cease to admire the beautiful girl with afro-haircut. The persuasive power of art makes one desire political rights that have been denied to them and make them raise their voice against oppression. Artists have demanded equality, freedom and independence through art from time to time. 

ART AS A TOOL TO UPHOLD DEMOCRACY: 

Art has become one of the important tools to keep the essence of democracy alive. Artworks in the public spheres are democratic in nature due to their accessibility; art allows the illiterate people to participate in politics. Due to the inclusive nature of art, it makes people accountable to make a change in society through their active participation in the political sphere. 

In contemporary times, art has become an effective tool to gain support among the people for protests against authoritative regimes. The streetwalls of all over the world were adorned with various graffiti in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. A movement that started in the U.S.A. was able to garner momentum all over the world. The graffiti and paintings on the street walls with images of George Floyd become a voice against police oppression in many countries. The graffitis symbolised the power of resistance by the masses against the oppression of the authoritarian regimes.

WHEN SHOULD ONE DRAW THE LINE BETWEEN ART AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE? 

An important issue that needs to be debated and discussed is where should one draw the line between art and political discourse. Artists have often been accused of painting or taking pictures of victims of war or human rights violation for profit. Kevin Carter’s famous picture of a starving Sudanese girl being watched by a vulture is one of the most heartbreaking images of all times. Many people were distressed by the picture and the photographer faced many criticisms for not helping the girl. That picture bought him fame and he also won the Pulitzer Prize; however, his fame became his curse. He committed suicide in the same year. In Kevin’s defence during that time photojournalists were not allowed to touch famine victims for fear of diseases (Rare Historical Photos, 2013). 

Shirin Neshat (2018) wrote in The New York Times, “To share a personal experience, in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution, […]. I shot a series of portraits of grieving elderly Egyptian men and women as they described tragedies, such as the loss of their children, that they experienced during the revolution. […] Soon after this photographic series, “Our House Is on Fire,” was exhibited at the Rauschenberg Foundation’s gallery space in New York, […]. After reading the criticism of “Our House is on Fire,” I was taken aback, wondering whether the critic’s interpretation and accusations may have been correct. Was I guilty of manipulating people’s emotions to make art? Or was he wrong by grossly misrepresenting the truth and bending a narrative that fit his own anti-art world and political agenda?” 

Art has always helped in highlighting the curtailment of human rights and lacking of the governments to bring change. But the ethics of the photojournalism and art should also be upheld. The people painted or shot should give consent too. For example, Steve McCurry took the iconic picture of Sharbat Gula without her permission. Through this photo, he was indeed able to highlight the political instability of Afghanistan and the plight of the refuges, but he failed to respect the subject’s privacy. (The Wire, 2019) 

CONCLUSION: 

The artistic approach to make people aware of politics and to induce the participatory nature of the masses to influence the decisions of the government is one of the most creative and persuasive means in political discourse. Democracy can sustain only with people’s participation and art has been the tool to make people aware. Sometimes, art can mislead the people through the excess of information one interpret from the subject matter. However, one can not deny the role art has played since enlightenment age in making politics more participatory in nature. 

REFERENCE: 

Errouane, Camelia. (2017). Introduction to the Special Issue on Art and Politics. International Journal for History, Culture And Modernity. 5. 68-73. 10.18352/hcm.509. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318500802_Introduction_to_the_Special_Issue_on_Art _and_Politics 

Hunt, T. (2019). Leonardo was a man of the Renaissance, not narrow nationhood. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/13/leonardo-man-renaissance-not-narrow -nationhood 

Möller, Frank. (2016). Politics and Art. Oxford Handbooks Online. 

https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935307.001.0001/oxfordhb 9780199935307-e-13 

Neshat, S. ( December 5, 2018). When Does Political Art Cross the Line. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/opinion/shirin-neshat-political-art.html Ribhu (2019). You’ll Never See the Iconic Photo of the ‘Afghan Girl’ the same way. The Wire. https://thewire.in/media/afghan-girl-steve-mccurry-national-geographic 

Rare Historic Photo (2013). The vulture and the little girl. 

The vulture and the little girl