Not Your Average Voice

“A picture says a thousand words” – sound familiar?  Historically, art has been used to express emotions, mark important events, and display political statements. Within youth political engagement, many may view our generation as less politically engaged- only about 54% of people aged 18-24 had voted in the 2019 general election (British Electoral Study 2021). However, I believe that art is a new way of political engagement. Art is a great way to begin to form your political identity, especially for marginalised communities. As these communities have their power diminished, and our systems current solution is an ineffectual lobbying process, it is understandable that our generation has hesitancies about entering our political system. With mainstream politicians decreasing interest in issues of poverty, climate change, and mitigating the increased cost of living (Inman 2019), the political current process does not align with our values and it is difficult to see changes being made. Thus many think we are moving away from mainstream politics, but we are politically engaged in different ways.

 

Thus, art is springboard for political engagement because of its reach and accessibility. Our generation is redefining what art means in the political space – while previous generations have gentrified access to most forms of art, marginalised voices are creating unique new artforms, making art an increasingly activist-infused space (Colucci 2015). The societal de-platforming of marginalised voices is no longer affective- they are using art, in all its forms, to portray their identities and political messages and expanding their reach into the mainstream.That is why graffiti is so important. It is a way for marginalised communities to express their views in a medium that extends beyond the confounds of institutionalised dominant culture. As Waldner and Dobratz 2013 explain, margionalised groups use graffiti as a means of polticial discourse (380). This is especially true within the political sphere where the social reproduction of civic values are less likely to occur because “disadvantaged youth had significantly less access service-learning opportunities and debates than students from more privileged groups” (Diemer et. al 2019, 71). The graph below demonstrates a strong association between income and political participation.

 

 

For economically marginalised groups, art represents a valid form of political participation, but is viewed by the government as a crime. In 2020, Network rail added 1 million pounds to its 3.5 million pound anti-graffiti measures. The measures alone could remove 33% more graffiti than last year (UK department for transportation 2020). Thus viewing art as valid form of political participation is important as these government acts could be viewed as a form of political censorship. Do you believe this a form of political participation?

 

Further, Art like graffiti provides disadvantaged students a platform for expression and direct engagement in participatory processes. Political researchers have examined the formation of the critical citizens (Amna & Ekan 2014), due to an increasing socialised awareness of the flaws in our democratic process to represent marginalised voices. Art is an important cog in the expression and political socialisation of our generation through direct expression and awareness of social inequality.

 

 

In addition, art has become an especially important tool for civic education for marginalised racial identities. In non-western countries, it can be a valid form of political engagement used to aid political movements on a global scale. Especially in countries who do not have a democratically socialised political system. For example, In Zimbabwe, Cin, Mkwanazi & Marovah’s 2021 research has used participatory art, or art that is created in a community setting (2) to help the Tongan youth politically engage. Due to the Tongan communities marginalisation, they have been rendered “invisible in most political, economic and social development discourses” (3). The researchers employed graffiti as a participatory art form, and found that it helped the Tongan youth to “conveys the struggles and fabric of everyday spaces and experiences or everyday practices of conflict and peace at the local level” (8). It is important to employ these tools as a valid form of political education.It is an accessible and creative way to express political ideology. Their research showed the importance of alternative forms of expression as an into political expression and the formation of civic identity.

 

Both activist and artist work in the challenges of the unknown and the unpredictable, never truly able to determine the outcome and forever questioning if there is more to be done” – (Blum 2017)

 

Further, artists like Stormzy are able to express their politics through music, and the importance of young voices in political spaces (Younge 2020). He has stated the importance of his life experience and identity as inspiration in his art- exactly why his music resonates with many in our generation.

Art to Challenge the Status Quo

Art has been especially relevant in the last decade as a means of political protest. For our generation, who politically engage online, art is used to share and express political ideology to a wider audience and to develop a political voice. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement was largely facilitated online. Its use of art as a symbol of protest against police brutality after the death of George Floyd made a powerful world-wide statement. The art created to commemorate George Floyd’s life made headlines bringing the story to the fore of mainstream coverage and support. Depicted was community, pain, and sesilience against police brutality, memorialising “George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as others who were killed by police graced many walls… saying Black Lives Matter” (Krales & Pavic 2020). Art gave black marginalised voices broader platforms, highlighting issues that have all too often been kept out of traditional media and political spheres.

 

So what happens to political art? In May 2020, after the wake of George Floyd’s death,  street artist Aske painted a mural in their honour. Overnight it was defaced with racial slur according to Manchester Police- and has since been defaced 3 times since its conception. However, the criminal investigations progress had been scarcely reported on. Local newspapers only reported they would “do everything we can to find out who committed this abhorrent crime” (BBC 2020). There was no wider-scale reporting- the incident being handled by local police, who kept their process behind-closed doors, even from the BLM Activist who foot the bill for repairing the mural. This is  indicative of how much power art holds as a symbol of social resistance. The story of the mural parallels the black community’s story of fighting an oppressive, secretive, unjust and uncaring system. Thus, Art is a way in which our generation can get more politically involved as it broadens and is symbolic of movements that force systemic change.

 

What You Can D0. 

Art is important in finding one political identity and creating communities for change, and while many may think we aren’t politically engaged, we certainly are. Therefore, a great way for you to get politically active is to share and create some art. The more we spread music, physical artwork, poems with political messages or undertones, the more politically enriched our society becomes. But what do you think?

Bibliography

Alfonso, A., 2015. LSE Blogs. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/ [Accessed February 22, 2022].

 

BBC, 2020. George Floyd: Manchester mural defaced with racist slur. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-53498087 [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

Blum, A., 2017. Art and politics: The power of creativity and activism across the Globe. HuffPost. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/art-and-politicsthe-power_b_9511384 [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

Colucci, E., 2015. Can art be a form of political activism? VICE. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qbeypp/can-art-be-a-form-of-political-activism [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

Department for Transportation, 2020. Calls to end ‘blight’ of graffiti on roads and railways as part of Great British september clean. GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/calls-to-end-blight-of-graffiti-on-roads-and-railways-as-part-of-great-british-september-clean [Accessed February 22, 2022].

 

Dobratz, B.A., 2013. Graffiti as a form of contentious political participation. Sociology Compass, 7(5), pp.377–389. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264257023_Graffiti_as_a_Form_of_Contentious_Political_Participation [Accessed February 22, 2022].

 

Mkwananzi, W.F., Cin, F.M. & Marovah, T., 2021. Participatory art for navigating political capabilities and aspirations among rural youth in Zimbabwe. Third World Quarterly, 42(12), pp.2863–2882. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331441483 [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

Noisey, 2015. Stormzy & Muzi: From South London to South Africa, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtvtDXLdnZI [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

The Observer, 2019. Age, not class, is now what divides British voters most | Phillip Inman. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/21/age-not-class-is-what-divides-british-voters-most [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

The British Election Study, 2021. Age and voting behaviour at the 2019 general election. Age and voting behaviour at the 2019 General Election – The British Election Study. Available at: https://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-findings/age-and-voting-behaviour-at-the-2019-general-election/#.Yg0ShC-l1QJ [Accessed February 18, 2022].

 

Younge, G., 2020. Stormzy: ‘in my diction, in my stance, in my attitude… this is Black British’. British GQ. Available at: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/stormzy-black-british [Accessed February 18, 2022].