This week we had an extra assignment where we are required to do a quick study of Keith Haring and another one relevant Protest art case study. I'm not so sure how to start off my "quick study" as I tend to get lost in trying to compile a nicely packed content and also because I'm not so well-versed in knowing what type of content to put in an art case study. So to start off my study, I'll be going over Keith Haring's background as an artist and the type of art that he creates before talking about an artwork of his that I find to still be relevant and resonates with modern-day issues. Afterwards, I'll present one relevant protest art and explain my reasoning in choosing it.
Keith Haring- Artwork and practices
Keith Haring. I never knew his name but I’ve seen numerous pieces of his artwork scattered in various forms of media. To start with, he’s one of the multiple prominent artists that is actively using his art as a form of social activism and using street art and mural paintings as his go-to canvas.
For a large number of his artworks, the main subject was the advocacy of safe sex practice and raising public awareness against AIDS as the stigma against AIDS was particularly high during the 1980s-90s. Not to mention the lack of support from the American Government in bringing awareness to this life-threatening disease made a large number of artists deciding to take matters into their own hands- including Keith himself. His other prominent artworks feature topics about the fight against the crack epidemic and numerous government corruption issues.
Although his career as an artist came to an early end in 1990 due to him contracting AIDS two years prior, his socially and politically provoking artworks has since made their mark in the art world due to its everlasting relevancy to current day issues.
In terms of his artwork, his safe-sex art theme is the main topic that I would like to do more research on, particularly his safe sex series. The reason why I choose this series specifically is due to its relevancy today and how safe sex is a practice that isn't widely taught to the youths of today.
If you take into account that this art piece was created during a time where the number of AIDS cases was at an all-time high, the message behind this art piece is fairly straight-forward. The practice of safe-sex was heavily pushed to the public during the AIDS epidemic as a mean to reduce the number of sexually transmitted diseases at the time- especially among same-sex partners. With the heavy campaigning of safe-sex practices, it is no surprise that the impact of this campaign stayed with the public, resulting in more people taking safe sex-practices seriously than before and programs promoting safe-sex was starting to emerge.
However, despite this push for safe-sex, the topic of sex itself was still considered as taboo to some. But as time progresses and more form of communication emerged, it's no surprise that the barrier of discussing topics that were formerly considered as "taboo" hardly exists in the online world anymore- especially with the creation of chat rooms and anonymous forum boards, people now have a dedicated space to discuss these kinds of topics.
This anonymous openness slowly changed sex from a taboo topic to something that can be conversed openly without feeling shame and its no longer a "hush-hush" type of conversation. These open discussions regarding sex also indirectly serve as an informal form of sex education for a huge majority of people- especially those coming from a conservative household/background. This is due to the fact that the majority aren't really taught about the importance of safe-sex practices by their parents or even in school as most teachers just skim over the basics of sexual reproduction and the only form of "safe-sex" that is taught is basically abstinence.
This negligence in teaching young people proper sex education due to being deemed as unnecessary and that "it'll only encourage them to engage in sexual acts earlier" is quite an outdated mindset to have. I believe that the more people shy-away from teaching teenagers the basics of sex and the importance of safe-sex, the more they'll be curious about this topic and this will lead them to look up information on the Internet and most of the time, it's not the best way to learn about sex-ed as the wrong information comes by easily. Especially in an era where the sexual liberation movement has prominence online.
Bottom line, safe-sex education and practices should be normalised to ensure that today's youth are able to enjoy a healthy sex life while reducing the risk of spreading sexually transmitted diseases to their partners.
Protest Art Case Study
Protest and political art come in many shapes and form. Whether it's from using traditional methods, modern methods or a mix of both, it's still considered an art form as there is a thought process behind the creation and a message trying to be conveyed to the viewers.
But what about accidental protest art? The type of art that came to be only because the key element that pulls the whole art piece together was captured at the right place and at the right time. Could it still be considered as a protest art if the thought process of it never came but the message of it is as bright as day? Well, those are some of the questions that I thought of when I decided to go with this photograph.
"The Tank Man" ( June 5th, 1989)
by Jeff Widener
The Tank Man is one of the most impactful photographs to come out from the Tiananmen Square protest. Included in the "Time 100: The Most Influential Images of All Time," the photograph showcases an anonymous man- who is nicknamed as The Tank Man- obstructing the movement of four heavy tanks in the process of leaving the Tiananmen Square on the 5th of June, 1989, marking the end of the protests as the area was under complete control of the military.
The reason why I chose this accidental protest photograph is because of the political meaning behind it and the effort went into censoring information regarding this event by the Chinese Government.
Starting off, there is no denying that this photo is widely popularized ever since its release. One of them is because of the heavy political meaning behind it. His action of obstructing the tanks from moving is taken as a form of defiance towards the military. Everyone knows that by doing so, he's at risk of being incarcerated or even executed for going against them. This action of his was seen as an inspiration to a lot of people and has since been made into a symbol of freedom.
The mysteriousness of the man's fate after this incident also contributed to the popularization of this incident. Despite a statement released by a government official stating that his whereabouts are unknown and that he wasn't arrested, but some people believe that the statement isn't truthful at all. The disbelief in the official statement stems from the fact that this whole incident was already heavily censored by the Chinese Government and confiscation along with the destruction of evidence regarding the Tiananmen incident was launched during and after the incident. Thus leading the public to doubt the statement. Why would the people who tried so hard to destroy any evidence regarding this event suddenly release any truthful information of it?
Which leads to my next point- censorship. While there were multiple methods taken to excise this event, a few of the prominent ones are the destruction of photographic evidence taken at the time of the event, incarceration of those who are involved in the protest and censor certain keywords on the Internet such as "June 4th, 1989, and tank man." While the censoring of the event has been quite lax over the years, it is still being carried out and enforced especially during the upcoming anniversary of the event. The result of this censorship is considered to be quite successful in a way that the knowledge of the event ever taking place isn't as well known as it once was and the prominence of it is slowly fading out.
Overall, the message of freedom and defiance will always be attached to this image despite the fact that there are people who believe that this image is losing it's relevancy and popularity today.
References:
Sawyer, M. (2019).‘The public has a right to art’: the radical joy of Keith Haring. The Guardian. Retrieved 22 April 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/02/public-has-right-to-art-keith-haring-tate-liverpool-exhibition.
Hernández, J. (2019).30 Years After Tiananmen, ‘Tank Man’ Remains an Icon and a Mystery. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 22 April 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/world/asia/tiananmen-tank-man.html.
Almond, K. (2019).The story behind the iconic ‘Tank Man’ photo. Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 22 April 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/world/tiananmen-square-tank-man-cnnphotos/.
Kuang, K. (2016).30 Years After Tiananmen, ‘Tank Man’ Remains an Icon and a Mystery. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 22 April 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/world/asia/tiananmen-tank-man.html.
Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU
Image source:
Safe Sex 1
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