Art As Dissent

As the saying goes, art is a reflection of society. It witnesses, inspires, provokes and often becomes the voice of resistance against oppressors. History is full of paintings, books, songs, movies etc that spoke against the powerful and tyrannical.

Art has the power to convey ideas to the masses in a way that’s far more impactful than mere news report can. It can stir emotions and make people think from a different perspective. This is the power that the tyrants fear so much. Kings, governments and dictators have often tried to suppress such art. Books have been burned, paintings destroyed, songs banned. However, the power of art is such that it still finds a way to spread. Nazis famously burned books by everyone they considered to be against their ideologies, which included authors like H.G. Wells, Karl Marx, Thomas Mann and many, many more. However, there are numerous tales of how the underground resistance often circulated these books. All work by the revolutionary poet Faiz was banned by Pakistan’s Gen. Zia ul Haq and yet, one evening Iqbal Bano sang ‘Hum Dekhenge’ (We shall see), a particularly scathing indictment of Gen. Zia’s dictatorial regime, to a cheering crowd of thousands.

Art also documents atrocities as a powerful reminder of the horrors we are capable of unleashing upon our fellow humans. Picasso’s chilling painting Guernica depicts the bombing of a Spanish village by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in chaotic and grotesque detail.

The Hiroshima Panels is a set of large panel paintings by Japanese couple Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, which portray the horrors of the aftermath of dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Films are a uniquely powerful medium for expressing dissent, owing to their popularity. Directors like Jafar Panahi, Spike Lee and Ritwik Ghatak made their mark in the world by telling stories of dissent. Shoah gave us a view of the Holocaust unlike anything seen before.

The power of art as a voice of the oppressed brings hope that things will change for the better and the world will remember the stories of those who were powerless yet fearless.