Art in the Movement: a Modern Day Example in Hong Kong
By LYNN YUAN ‘21
Entering their 16th consecutive week, the Hong Kong freedom protests seem to have no plans of stopping until freedom of speech is guaranteed. News outlets often focus on the more violent aspects of the Hong Kong protests while failing to illustrate the majority who demonstrate peacefully. One aspect of peaceful protest in Hong Kong that is not represented enough in Western media is the use of art to further the cause. Using iconic symbols such as the yellow umbrella, and massive collaborative displays, Hongkongers creatively demonstrate their desire for democracy and a better future for their city.
The protests in Hong Kong began in March of 2019 but picked up momentum in June. They began over the Extradition Law Amendment Bill, proposed this February, which would allow for the Hong Kong government to turn over criminal offenders in Hong Kong to Mainland China. This bill, which, in my opinion, harms more than helps the citizens of Hong Kong, brings them closer to an undesired merge with China. This bill affects more than just criminals, and it would be another example of the unresponsive governing body ignoring the will and welfare of its citizens. “The extradition bill was a trigger point,” claimed Samuel Chu, one of the many students participating in the protests, in a report to the South China Morning Post; it was a wake-up call to the rare pro-democratic population in a totalitarian state.
In all the chaos of mass demonstrations and street violence, many protesters have used art as a platform to voice their beliefs. The yellow umbrella, a symbol that rose from the ashes of the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, has become a major symbol of democracy in Hong Kong. The symbol derives from the protesters’ use of umbrellas to shield themselves from police-fired tear gas. Simultaneously, Hong Kong flag’s orchid has made its way onto countless social media posts, acting as a bold proclamation of Hong Kong’s freedom from the Chinese government. Protest information, integrated into posters, is distributed both physically and electronically. Protesters have also created large-scale exhibitions to stress their cause, like communal walls for community members to plaster with post it notes expressing their desire ability to speak freely anonymously. These displays of collective will are named Lennon Walls after the John Lennon Wall in Prague. Protesters at the airport, who are seen on an almost weekly basis, have also taken to including artwork in the form of leaflets (translated into many languages) and more in their sit-ins so to inform travellers about their cause. In the larger art community, acclaimed artist Ai Wei Wei, a politically active Chinese artist well known for speaking on and taking decisive action against the totalitarian Chinese government in the past, broke the art world’s silence the unrest by speaking clearly upon his position of the world’s ignorance. In an interview with The Art Newspaper, he declared “Hong Kong is on fire, [and] the world is indifferent to the [struggle].”
Indeed, the world—especially the United States—pays little attention to the persistence and magnitude of the protests; however, what the physical protests cannot do, the political art circulating through social media across the globe can. I experience the unrelenting will of the Hong Kong protests through my friends, who post designs and posters on their Instagram and Snapchat stories. While I was in Hong Kong, I would often receive airdrop requests from total strangers walking to different places, giving me information on the next protest. The most memorable moment was seeing the collaboration put into the Lennon Walls: achievements which showed me both the hope and anger that are ingrained in the protesters’ actions. Going forward, I hope that our school community will begin to pay more attention to the movement in Hong Kong.
Lennon Walls in Hong Kong, image courtesy of the nytimes.com