Art as propaganda and protest

Find one example of art used as propaganda and one example of protest artboth from countries outside of the United States. The art can be a poem, book, painting, or song. The examples do not have to be from the same place of origin, so you are free to choose propaganda from one area of the world and protest from another.

To read the definition of propaganda and see some literary examples, go to https://literaryterms.net/propaganda/ (Links to an external site.).

To learn more about how art has been used as propaganda, take a look at the article “How Has Art Been Used as Propaganda?” at  https://owlcation.com/humanities/How-has-art-been-used-as-propaganda (Links to an external site.)

To learn more about how art has been used as a form of protest, read “Cultural Resistance: The Power of Music and Visual Art as Protest” at https://www.newtactics.org/conversation/cultural-resistance-power-music-and-visual-art-protest (Links to an external site.) or “The Role of the Arts in Political Protest” at https://mobilizingideas.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/the-role-of-the-arts-in-political-protest/ (Links to an external site.)

The articles above should provide adequate definitions and examples for starting your research.

create two parts. Part I: Propaganda and Part II: Protest. Be sure to cover the following for each part. I recommend copying and pasting the questions twice, once in each part of your post:

  • What examples have you chosen for each?
    • Provide title, artist, date. ONE embedded image or video/audio file is required for each example. (If you choose art, provide the image, for literature, look for book covers. If you choose music, embed audio or video from YouTube.)
  • Summarize the purpose the art served.
    • Identify the country.
    • For Part I: Propaganda Art – what was it propagating?
    • For Part II: Protest Art – what was it protesting?
    • Explain the political, religious, or moral climate surrounding it.
  • Determine how it was used.
    • Was it widely distributed?
    • Was it on public display?
    • Was it published or displayed outside of the country of origin in order to gain sympathy for its cause?
  • Examine whether the art was considered a success.
    • For moralistic, did it help propel the moral or ethical message?
    • For Part I: Propaganda Art – was it successful in promoting its cause? (Note that I’m asking about promoting the propaganda, not whether the movement was successful. For example, propaganda for the Nazis in Germany during WWII was successful even though the Nazis were not.)
    • For Part II: Protest Art – was it banned in its country of origin?
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