Takin' it to the Streets: Protest Art and Bush's War
By Cameron Norrie
There is an ugly anonymous corner in Vancouver -(well, there are many!) -but the one I am thinking of is at Main and Terminal, a corner where cars are just turning, turning to go elsewhere, and the Skytrain above is also hurrying off in another direction. But one day at that corner, near the top of one of the ugly old (abandoned?) industrial buildings I saw a huge painted image of George Bush with the word "WAR" coming out of his mouth and the word "LIE$" painted on both sides of his head.
My first response was that it was well done, and that it was nice that someone bothered. Then I wondered how they got it up there - one person, or two, or three? And when -the middle of the night... daybreak? Was the building currently occupied, or not? I also wondered if Bush's ears were that pointy and protruding, or if they looked more like Paul Wolfowitz's. Then I thought: I bet it won't stay up that long...
It wasn't up very long! Just about a week, and it was gone. I returned with a camera, knowing its days were numbered. First the
"LIE$" words were pulled down. I wondered if that had been determined to be the only offensive part and the rest might remain up there. No - soon after the whole thing was gone. Then I wondered: who took it down? The police? (I saw a Vancouver pamphlet that said to call 911 for graffiti). Or was it the building's owner? Or a dedicated George Bush supporter?
I took the next photo of various posters vying for attention in San Francisco. The main ones visible are the Cheney "Got Oil?" photo and the Mexican-style dead figure in a military outfit with a sign that says "Spare Some Change...IMPEACH BUSH!!!" While clearly an anti-Bush message, I feel there is something confusing about this poster - why the Mexican imagery? And the "Spare Change" just makes us think of begging people more than Bush. The "Got Oil?" Cheney poster, however, works very well - the theme instantly recognizable as a mixture of "No Blood for Oil" and the "Got Milk?" campaign. His lips are smeared like the milk drinkers, but it is messier because it is dark oil, and has been greedily and ravenously consumed, in the manner of a vampire. Of course, the use of photos in political art has had a long history:
Adolf the Superman 1932 , By John Heartfield
The photo provides an unmistakable image of the despised figure, while the creative manipulation the provides the commentary, or the truth.
Later, I discovered on the internet that the Cheney "Got Oil?" poster was a part of a series - with each individual poster exhibiting fantastic design.
This last photo, featuring a piece of paper with a message written on it in red marker can't really be considered art, though perhaps the person responsible for it may be making some kind of statement by putting it on a big advertisement. It is pointedly placed on the perfume bottle -indicating that they feel a war discussion should take priority over mindless consumerism? It is an anti-war statement, however it frames the subject in the context of the psychological, rather than the political or economic. I think fear is a part of social or political conflict when you have different groups living
in the same country or neighbouring countries where the differences have been magnified by cynical political figures and the population responds on cue out of ignorance and fear. Not really the case with the US, it has to do more with what Eisenhower warned of in his farewell address of when he spoke of the "grave implications" of having an "immense military establishment and large arms industry," a new phenomenon in the 1950s: "we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. "Of course, since then the US military-industrial complex has become obscenely huge, and they basically run the government. That is why the US has the "biggest military budget in the world." That, and help from a media that doesn't really inform the people on the details of who really runs the country or how the money is spent. Read about Janet and J.Lo.
Of related interest:
The Art of War - WNYC.org presents The Art of War; an online gallery of listener-submitted original artwork inspired by the War in Iraq.
Steve Mumford's Baghdad Journal, at Art Net