Power, Politics And Glory Essay

If protest art is shown only in galleries or museums, is it reaching a wide enough audience to be effective? Protest art is a way for activists to promote their causes by using creativity in how they delivery their message.   If they will only be displayed in museums or galleries, then it will only reach a limited audience.   In any kind or form of promoting a social message, it is important to reach as many people as possible.   Without a wide reach, the protest art would not be very effective.   However, if the target audience were limited to those who are frequent visitors to museums and galleries, then, limiting the display to these locations would serve the purpose.   With protest art, the artist often has a clear political message to deliver, presents it in a persuasive way, and hopes to cause change. Is that different from propaganda?   Propaganda takes many forms and uses different mediums to deliver its message in order to persuade or influence changes.   Protest art as a form of propaganda uses symbols and pictures to drive the message across.   By being creative, more people will take notice of what the issue is all about.   Can propaganda be art?   Art can take any form.   Similarly, a movement can also use art to promote or influence opinions and behavior.   In that sense, propaganda can use cartoons, satires, paintings, banners, or other art mediums to convey the message.   Look at the image of President Bush. This photograph was taken in May of 2003. Do you think this image was staged in any way? What are your thoughts in the way of the function of this image? Could it be called propaganda? The image is obviously staged to relate a message.   Since propaganda could be positive or negative, then there are two ways to interpret this image.   On the positive side, the thumbs-up and the mission-accomplished banner could mean that the government has successfully upheld justice in Iraq by driving away extremists led by Saddam Hussein.   On the other hand, the picture could mean that Bush was gloating over the invasion of Iraq and how it would mean to his image as world leader.