Yoshie Kateada

CLQ 3360/61
Professors Duvall and Scott
25 November 2013
Speaking the Truth in Unusual Ways: The Power of Protest Art
2011 in Cairo: a dance performance in the wake of the revolution. 2008 in London: a physical
theatre performance by an Arab and a Jew. 2013 in Haiti: street sculptures appear in the aftermath of the
earthquake. This December in Cincinnati: A capella will be performed by a group with roots in the civil
rights movement. How are all of these artistic events related? They are all forms of protest and social
commentary. Art has long been an integral part of movements for change. For example, music played an
extremely important role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s (Mission Statement). Anthems
such as If I had a Hammer and We Shall Overcome became a way to voice anger and frustration in a
unified and peaceful manner. Currently, the entire human race is facing one of the largest issues that has
ever existed: climate change. Climate change is not exactly one issue, it is more a complex combination
of issues. Everything from dependence on fossil fuels, to deforestation, to changing weather patterns,
makes up the larger problem that is global warming. It will take an incredible amount of ingenuity from
the human race to address the massive question of how to save our world. This ingenuity needs to come
from many sources. Scientists have played an amazing role in both defining the consequences of climate
change, and offering solutions. However, the work that artists do to instigate change is often seen as
secondary to that of experts. Despite this ever present bias, artists have made many lasting and
important contributions to countless social movements, including the movement to raise awareness
around global warming and change the overconsumption that creates these phenomena. Artists offer very
unique and important skills that they can employ in social commentary. Sometimes controversial and
important statements can be made most effectively through a song, or a painting, or a dance. It is this
ability of art, to make the intangible a real for an audience, that gives it so much power to make a
difference.
Protest art has a long history. Two visionaries in the field are Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagan and
Pete Seeger. Both are musicians who are very concerned about social issues. Dr. Reagan was involved in
the civil rights movement and went on to found the legendary a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock,
which is made up of five black women with powerful voices for civil rights and change. Dr. Reagan has
since retired from Sweet Honey, but her legacy lives on through them. Pete Seeger, who was also

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involved in the civil rights movements of the 1960s, revived folk music and wrote many protest songs
that are still sung today (Pete Seeger). Seeger also founded The Clearwaters Hudson River Valley
Festival. Over forty years ago, Seeger was very concerned with the state of the Hudson River. He
founded the music festival to help raise awareness and funds (The Festival). The funds eventually went
to build The Clearwater, a sloop that serves as a floating classroom and ambassador for the health of the
river. Additionally, the organization behind The Clearwater has been instrumental in passing
environmental legislation, at both state and federal levels (The Festival).
Following in the footsteps of Pete Seeger, singer songwriter Dar Williams, uses her music to
bring about social and political change. Willams was recently interviewed by Madeline Ostrander, of Yes!
Magazine, about the state of protest music today. Williams credits legendary folk musician Joan Baez as
an inspiration, and cites both Baezs humility and her incredible impact on history.
[Williams Describing Baez] She was very modest about her achievements but she had
been a part of [so] many flashpoints in history. [Former Czechoslovakian President]
Vaclav Havel said she was one of the handful of reasons why they had a non-violent
revolution.
This is an incredible observation, and further points to the long history behind art protest, and its
power to make lasting differences.
Williams believes that protest art is not, as some argue, a dying art (Ostrander). She
concedes that it may possess less momentum at the moment. There is not nearly as much star
power attached to the label folk singer as in Baezs time, and American society often seems to
be gripped by a sort of apathy that prevents people from serious protest effort. However, within
communities, Williams is seeing the sort of grassroots activism that defined the 1960s on a
smaller, more local, scale. She even has a name for this type of activism. She calls it positive
proximity, and defines it as: the organic and spontaneous acts of cultural change that happen
through public art and gathering spaces (Ostrander). It is this phenomenon that drives protest
art. When people can gather and make their voices heard, especially by creating new ways of

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saying the truth, change happens. It is from this long history of protest art that all current forms
are derived. Pete Seeger, Dr, Bernice Johnson Reagan, Joan Baez, and Dar Williams, have all
been a part of making protest art what it is today and what it will become tomorrow.
One part of what protest art is today is informed by its portrayal in the art of film. Social
movements can have an even broader impact when they are broadcast to a wider audience. The
film Flow: for the Love of Water, seeks to raise awareness about the vast issues around water, and
specifically the privatization of this precious resource. The film functions primarily in an
expository mode, using expert testimonial and stock footage to back up its claims. The film gives
a wider voice to the disadvantaged and deprived, making powerful statements about the state of
water in our world. Flow also specifically cites success stories. For example mass protests of the
privatization of water in Bolivia, eventually resulted in the return of water to the people. As one
expert interview says: no technology is superior to foot march, and true revolution is ultimately
going to be local (Flow). These large scale protests are made even more powerful by their
portrayal through film, and the art of film has a unique way of participating in dialogue around
social and political issues. It can showcase facts and figures in a way that audiences find
entertaining, and therefore will pay more attention to, and it can also share both the problems and
the amazing solutions that already exist. The art of film also has at its fingertips the ability to
build suspense, and make the audience invested in the outcomes of social issues.
One excellent example of this is the film The Cove. A documentary on the mass dolphin killings
that take place each year in Taiji Japan, this film employs some of the devices used by traditional thrillers
or adventure films, to build suspense. Besides being more compelling to watch, this touch also creates a
sense of urgency around the issues portrayed by the film. This film is a part of the amazing legacy of Ric
OBarry, a former dolphin trainer, who has since become an advocate for dolphins in the wild. According
to The Cove, Japan is a country with virtually no environmental activist groups (The Cove). In order to
try and stop the Taiji slaughter, and ultimately make this film, OBarry calls upon a diverse team of
westerners (Americans and Australians) to help. While this is an incredibly effective piece of
filmmaking, and is now raising awareness the world over, it does not seek to change that one simple fact

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that Japan does not have an environmental movement. Many of the Japanese interviewed are appalled by
the fact that they are being sold mislabeled dolphin meat. It seems that there is enough anger in Japan
around this issue, just not enough awareness. What if OBarry had worked to build a social movement
within Japan? Admittedly, a dubbed version of the film does exist, and is marketed to Japanese audiences,
but it seems that a lot of resources have gone towards educating American viewers. The film does this
very effectively. However, Americans are not the ones eating dolphin meat. This film, if geared towards
Japanese audiences, could have had the potential to empower the Japanese people and create an entire
social movement.
While films do an excellent job of raising awareness, actual protest art in the streets has an
immediacy that contributes to its power. In Haiti, a group called the Haitis Resistance Artists creates
giant metal sculptors in the streets (Erlich). They have been making this art for a long time, but after the
2010 earthquake the work took on new meaning (Erlich). The group was founded twelve years ago, on
the premise of creating art as a commentary on social issues (Erlich). Given the arts acknowledgement
of social inequality, it has not been very popular with wealthy art collectors, but the Resistance Artists
continue to do their work. In the wake of the earthquake, the art became a commentary not just on
society, but also on devastation and loss of life (Erlich). Art has the ability to respond to what is
happening at a certain time, in a certain place, which makes it a powerful and immediate tool for protest.
Oxa Leato, a Haitian gallery owner, says: the mere act of living and creating work in the streets is a form
of resistance (Erlich).
In Egypt, art is also responding to drastic changes happening within society. Post revolution art
has much more freedom to speak the truth and experiment with expression, but it also relates to the
unstable and ever shifting reality that is life in Egypt at this time (The Noise of Cairo). Prior to the
revolution, artistic expression was suspect behavior, and was highly discouraged, or even punished (The
Noise of Cairo). Since the revolution art has become a way to deal with, and make sense, of what Egypt
is now. Karima Mansour, an Egyptian dancer and choreographer, says artists are feared because they are
loud (The Noise of Cairo). Societies often seek to crush artistic expression, out of fear. This is because
artists have the power to speak the truth in ways that often threaten the status quo.

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Art can also become a sort of time capsule. For example, the art being created in Egypt right now
is characteristic of a sort of emerging sense of identity. Some of the art expresses anger towards the
dictatorship, but much of it looks at where the country is now. What does it mean to be an Egyptian, post
revolution? These sorts of questions can be powerfully explored in the mediums offered by art, because
they have highly complex answers which are often best expressed through multiple perspectives and ways
of understanding.
Ultimately, art unifies; it creates a common understanding because it is able to speak to every
human being on the planet, regardless of language, heritage, race, class, or gender. Art serves as a way to
protest, but it also serves to create solidarity. The folk songs of the 1960s were created to be sung
together, and all protest art that has followed is created to be shared and discussed and absorbed. Bill
McKibben, legendary environmental activist, started an organization called 350.org. This organization
has sponsored some of the largest demonstrations that have ever happened around the issue of climate
change, and art has played a huge role. 350. org features numerous pictures from the demonstrations
which evoke feelings of solidarity. These pictures hold special power because they speak in a language
that is understood across nations.
I recently experienced this sort of cross cultural power that art holds, on a dance service trip to
Mexico. I traveled there with a group called JUNTOS ( together in Spanish), which facilitates dance
outreach in communities that are not normally exposed to art. We performed and taught workshops in
various places throughout the two weeks of the trip. I speak some Spanish, but I have a very limited
vocabulary, and it was incredible how much could be said just through movement. I have often heard that
art is a universal language, but this concept did not become fully clear to me until I danced in Mexico.
I knew for certain that the people in front of me knew exactly what I was trying to say with my
movement, and I could understand them through their movement. It seemed like the most natural thing in
the world that we should be able to communicate in this way. While I was not participating in protest
art, I was engaging in communication, through art, around the issues that all humans face, with people
incredibly different from me. I can testify to the basic veracity of the power that art holds to
communicate the incommunicable. Protest art, and social commentary are vital parts of making our

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world a better place. These acts of artistic bravery not only free the artists voice, they also open up
dialogue and build community by addressing issues in a creative and imaginative way. Karima Mansour
says that artists are loud, may we continue to listen to their voices.

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Works Cited
"About the Festival." The Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Erlich, Reese. "Street Artists Protest Status Quo In Haiti." National Public Radio (n.d.): n. pag. Npr.org.
14 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.
Flow: For the Love of Water. Dir. Irena Salina. 2008. DVD.
"Make Your Own Climate Art." (n.d.): n. pag. 350.org. Web. 3 Oct. 2013.
McKibben, Bill. Leadership Lecture Series. Angelico Hall, Dominican University of California, San
Rafael. 25 Sept. 2013. Lecture.
"Mission Statement." Sweethoneyintherock.org. Sweet Honey in the Rock, n.d. Web.
Ostrander, Madeline. "Dar Williams: Why the Music of Protest Is Still Worth Defending." Yes Magazine
(2013): n. pag. 19 July 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. Dir. Jim Brown. 2007. DVD.
The Cove. Dir. Louie Psihoyos. 2009. DVD.
The Noise of Cairo. Dir. Heiko Lange. 2012. DVD.

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Research Project Original Proposal:

eARTh: How Art Can Helps us Save the World From Climate Change
Working Thesis: Art is an effective and powerful protest technique, and can play an important
role in raising awareness around climate issues.
Description and why I chose this topic: I am inspired by the power of protest and how art can
play a role in this. My original idea came from poetry on nature and how it has affected the way people
look at the environment. However, Bill McKibbens 350 organization and their worldwide day of action
made me want to investigate how art functions in protests. I would like to explore many different forms
of art. For example, music has played a vital role in protests throughout history, and visual art can offer
unique innovative ideas on how to live more sustainably. Because I dance, I would like to explore what
unique perspectives artists can offer to the environmental movement.
Working Bibliography:
"About the Festival." The Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Erlich, Reese. "Street Artists Protest Status Quo In Haiti." National Public Radio (n.d.): n. pag. Npr.org.
14 Apr. 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2013.
Flow: For the Love of Water. Dir. Irena Salina. 2008. DVD.
"Make Your Own Climate Art." (n.d.): n. pag. 350.org. Web. 3 Oct. 2013.
McKibben, Bill. Leadership Lecture Series. Angelico Hall, Dominican University of California, San
Rafael. 25 Sept. 2013. Lecture.
"Mission Statement." Sweethoneyintherock.org. Sweet Honey in the Rock, n.d. Web.
Ostrander, Madeline. "Dar Williams: Why the Music of Protest Is Still Worth Defending." Yes Magazine
(2013): n. pag. 19 July 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.
The Cove. Dir. Louie Psihoyos. 2009. DVD.
The Noise of Cairo. Dir. Heiko Lange. 2012. DVD.