Craftivism

The relationship between art and politics is no more evident than when used in protest.

In order to create, you need to gather materials, which can range from purchased stationery to whatever is lying around. Sure, there’s made to order options, but if you’re building from scratch, you get the added benefit of creativity. Either you do it alone and get to experience the therapeutic offering that comes with making art, or collaborate with others where you can build community with a common cause. Art in activism needn’t be perfect. Signs for protests can be as crude as using a torn off piece of cardboard and a marker pen and as much as it is used to convey a message, it also expresses part of you.

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A few months ago, I had an opportunity to submit artwork for use in the US May Day nationwide protests. Using Procreate to create a digital poster, it felt good to have something to add to the movement, since I couldn’t attend in person. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t selected, or that there was no monetary incentive. The real incentive was to use my artwork for a purpose, contributing in any way I could, whilst also exercising ideas and creativity.

Since the beginning of the year, mass protests have broken out in the United States in response to egregious executive orders by the government. The first major protest was The People’s March, which I was able to attend in Washington D.C. and where my friend and I gathered an abundance of materials to design our own signage. We spent a week together and in the run up to the protest, our crafting of signs was an added touch to our bonding experience. Given that the protest welcomed numerous causes and concerns, we had to exercise our inventiveness, not just in choosing whether to use glitter, or sequins, felt tips, or pencil crayons, but we also had to consider what exactly we wanted to say. This resulted in two very different forms of expression: whilst I chose a modestly sized, pop culture referencing message of my solidarity with the American people, my friend went big and no nonsense pulling more at the guts of inner rage. She got a lot of attention and praise by other protesters loving her design and my more timid self realized, yes, this is the exact space to be bold and outspoken.

From then on, more and more national days of action have been organised, with many new movements being born, including the Hands Off protest, referencing the people’s demand that government executive orders don’t impede upon their rights, as well as No Kings, Kick Out The Clowns and the upcoming Rage Against The Regime. These movements have even spread across the world as a sign of worldwide solidarity and protest signs and artwork were a huge draw: Signs of the Times: Highlights from the "No Kings" Protest; 54 Anti-Trump Protest Sign Ideas for the No Kings Protest

Additionally, something I have become aware of since getting acquainted with US political activism, is the simple but effective action of postcarding. This isn’t something I’ve seen in the UK political sphere (and to be honest, this would be a great initiative to get more people involved in elections), but the idea is to send hand written postcards to reach voters/would be voters to encourage their vote. It has become a huge campaign activity allowing activists to exercise their creative flair, whilst performing a civic action. Whether you purchase postcards, or design your own, you can write and doodle eye catching messages with a more personal touch. You can read more about this practice here: Voters Writing to Voters and Have Pen, Will Write and Write

Numerous grassroots groups and organisations offer weekly Zoom calls for postcarding, as well as other craftivism gatherings, in particular Markers For Democracy. These meetings allow for community building, socialising and sharing creative activism, whilst additionally offering a meditative process. If you imagine the stress politics brings to our minds, political artwork is an antidote to soothing that stress.

The book Art Works by Ken Grossinger goes further into how art and politics are integral to one another. Taking significant political events throughout the 20th century to the present day, he discusses the connectivity of creating art and taking action. Not only does it allow activists to express themselves, but to collectively build effective action for a movement, without which less noise and less progress might have been made. Back then there was a reliance on signage and physical artwork being projected in the street, among large crowds of protestors, building fronts, or a distribution of fliers and zines. Today, technology and social media allow for even more coverage. Just look at this initiative from Rogan’s List (OUR “GOOD TROUBLE” SIGNS CAN REGISTER VOTERS), where a QR code was placed on a sign for people to scan and register to vote.

Further to this is the work of activist and artist Shepard Fairey, who creates politically motivated artworks along with other artists associated with movements, such as Artists For Democracy and People For the American Way (PFAW). Shepard’s recognisable work seeks to highlight campaigns of resistance against governmental action that is eroding democracy, as well as encouraging civic duties, in particular voting: See here for more information.

With so much happening politically, people have become increasingly more active, louder and passionate in raising their grievances. If you are an artist and politically minded these are such complimentary interests, but even if you are political and not artistic, taking action provides a great opportunity to embrace art with added benefits.