Art As Protest

Abstract

“Art as Protest” is a student-led workshop focusing on teaching Art Scholars about the art mediums traditionally used in forms of protest and activism. Over the course of the workshop, students will learn a variety of methods, including writing, music production, and performance, to delve into art as a means of protest. Through extensive research of how counterculture and community-centered art have impacted the marginalized and disenfranchised, how music and writing are historically entrenched in protest movements, we intend to demonstrate all we’ve learned to our students. Students will be able to convey their own activist beliefs through their artwork and be able to create pieces with specific messaging in protest. They will explore the mediums of protest art over five overarching topics and, in the end, produce their own work of protest art within one or multiple of those spaces. The workshop will help students develop skills and deepen their understanding of performance, community-art, writing, music, and counterculture through the exploration of scriptwriting and acting, meme culture and social media, writing satire and allegory, creating works of protest music, and considering methods of graffiti and presentation (fashion, etc.). The goal of this workshop is to have students create a work of art that means something to them, and speaks a message they believe in. Our aim is to teach art as a mechanism of conveying protest ideologies and the power of the messaging an artistic work can have.