The Art of Protesting

How the artwork of civil rights’ activists has changed over the years

By Olivia Hunt / A&C Assistant Editor  

The role of art in confronting governmental and social issues is far from new, and the line between artist and activist is often blurred. From signs and murals to slogans and chants, creative minds have always been crucial benefactors of activist movements. Protest art is also, arguably, more dynamic than ‘regular’ art; an inextricable aspect of protest art is that it is ephemeral. Paintings on streets, signs, and walls typically do not last longer than six months to a year. The Black Lives Matter organization, for instance, has spurred beautiful, moving artwork since its founding in 2013, and artists’ designs have progressed with the movement.

The stylistic choices and methods behind protest art are as deliberate as that of the curated art one would find in a museum. Los Angeles-based artist Nikkolas Smith, for example, purposely makes his protest art for the Black Lives Matter movement appear unfinished. His style reflects the unfinished nature of the movement, and how its goals have not yet been achieved. Smith’s predominant works are portraits of victims of police brutality, with his most recent portraits being of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor. In these works, Smith uses Photoshop to create a faux-oil painting paired with abstract elements. In an interview with Time Magazine he explained the thought processes and motivation behind his art.

“I don’t like clean lines,” Smith said. “That’s a parallel to all these lives. They did not have a chance to see their end. They should still be living.”

Smith’s portraits are currently among the most widespread images of the BLM movement, and have been shared by the organization’s Instagram account as well as that of Michelle Obama. His art has since been reprinted on numerous protest signs during BLM demonstrations and peaceful protests. 

Current protest art has also borrowed from previous civil rights movements. One of the most prominent, and strikingly memorable examples of this is the 1920 NAACP flag, flying from the window of the group’s New York City headquarters. With a black background and white lettering, the flag simply stated: “A Man was Lynched Yesterday” — urging the people of Manhattan, as well as the nation as a whole, to pay attention to the racist murders happening across the U.S.

In response to the 2015 police killings of Black Americans Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, that flag underwent a two-word revision. New York City-based artist Dread Scott remade the flag with the words, “A Man was Lynched by Police Yesterday.” On his portfolio website, Scott describes the history and motivation behind his piece, which currently hangs outside the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City.

Scott provides extensive context behind the original flag. On his website, he explains that, “during the Jim Crow era, Black people were terrorized by lynching — often public and publicized extra legal torture and murder of Black people. It was a threat that hung over all Black people who knew that for any reason or no reason whatsoever we could be killed and the killers would never be brought to justice.”

The medium, a flag, on which the NAACP chose to write this stark message, reflects the threat of death and violence that ‘hung over all Black people.’ Scott, in his addition to this message, modernized the piece.

He draws a crucial connection between the flag’s original words and his revision.

“Now the police are playing the same role of terror that lynch mobs did at the turn of the century,” Scott said. “Like lynchers in the Jim Crow era, there can be eye witnesses, and now even video evidence, and yet the police get away with murder. This artwork is an unfortunately necessary update to address a horror from the past that is haunting us in the present.” 

A main characteristic of protest art is that it is temporary — collectively used and dispersed until a social justice movement’s goals have been achieved. Typically, protest art occupies a space for six months to a few years, and is replaced or modified as a movement progresses. However, a recent Black Lives Matter mural in Los Angeles may have forever changed this aspect of protest art. On June 14, a large mural with the words, “All Black Lives Matter,” was painted on Hollywood Boulevard with a permanent status in mind. The L.A. city council passed a motion to protect the mural, and to keep it as a lasting symbol of the Black Lives Matter Movement.