The Importance Of Protest Art

It has happened often that the overwhelming beliefs of a group of people have been forced upon a minority or that the political leaders of nations have forced ideas on their citizens. But just as often as this has happened, so has the retort of the very people being badgered and oppressed. This retort has come in the forms of violent action, political coups, stand offs and, unfortunately, many deaths. One way that has emerged, however, to be a success against the war of oppression has been that of the passive protest, and another subdivision of this being protest art. Protest art has been one of the biggest contributors to the success of equality and passive resistance due to its ability to spread across nations and send a message without the

Protest art can be seen as a mirror or guide of social change. Protest art during Apartheid, the Cold War and for animal rights does not only state a problem but it gives society a reason of solution. Thus protest art has proven to be socially effective.

In South Africa during the, Apartheid era, protest art was used as a form of expression and was fueled by great passion against inequalities.
A large majority of the art in that era was socio-reflective concerning the suffering and the conditions of the non-whites in South Africa.
In 1948 Gavin Jantjies created ‘A South African Colouring Book’ to emphasis how everything in South Africa was catagorised by colour. This colouring book as an example of protest art, gave the world insight into how everyone was divided based on colour and was thus socially effective.

In the 1960s the Sharpville Massacre was one of the most important turning points in South African history. It triggered a lot of events from the liberation organisations being banned and internationalization of South African Apartheid. These events gave rise to protest art; this art was used as a weapon of struggle as well as working towards the creation of a new non-racial culture, therefore bringing about social