Everything Is Political: Art, Design, and the Illusion of Neutrality

Malhotra, Gayatri. “untitled.” Unsplash, Una persona sosteniendo un cartel foto – Imagen de Mujeres gratuita en Unsplash.

There’s been recent motions by celebrities to stay out of politics, with the most recent musing that arts and politics don’t intersect, "I’m not a political person. I’m in the arts." Ring a bell to anyone?

Or more recent examples like Bad Bunny´s Super Bowl performance, rife with symbolism of his homeland and messages of representation and unity during a time when the United States seem to outwardly be denouncing those two values. 

Think of protests specifically and the messaging, symbolism and design behind them. 

The intent always matters and so do the people. Protest graphics have been around for centuries, and are a prevalent example of when politics and art coincide. This can be seen specifically through Banksy and his medium, Graffiti murals, with ´Love is in the Air´being a classic example on the importance of nonviolence.

Right down to movies and music, politics is inescapable and removing yourself from the narrative and denouncing arts as not political is missing the point entirely. 

It's also harmful because it doesn't recognise the struggle that artists and designers at the forefront of politics had to endure to relay their message.

Artists such as Nina Simone, whose songs were blacklisted by radio stations, when she used music as a Civil rights protest or Keith Haring's work that gave voice to the AIDS crisis, during a time when queer art was heavily marginalised. 

Artists and designers have always been confronting the power dynamics of society and rebuking messages of censorship, hatred and bigotry through art and design as the medium. 

As Nina Simone said, "an artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times", with art almost acting as a mirror. 

Simply put, politics has a space in art, just as art has a space in politics.