Protest Art - For the People, Not the Government

Figure 1 - Pedro Pascal wears a "Protect the Dolls" t-shirt at the London premiere of the film Thunderbolts.

Art is often used to express strong emotions or beliefs, and so it’s perhaps no surprise that art is quite frequently used as a method of protest. Designs and slogans are often included on banners, posters, stickers, and t-shirts in order to communicate messages and reach more people. A recent example of this is the “Protect the Dolls” t-shirt, designed by Conner Ives and worn by celebrities at film premieres and events like Coachella. The t-shirt has gained more visibility in a time when rights for trans people are under attack in both America and the UK, as the word “dolls” is an affectionate term for trans women, who are typically the most targeted by anti-trans legislation. The shirt is more than just a symbolic gesture though, as it is now available for pre-order, and all proceeds from sales will be donated to the organisation Trans Lifeline (Cochrane, 2025), highlighting the widespread impact that protest art can have beyond just making a message more visible  This t-shirt is just one example in the powerful canon of art being used as a form of protest, and this post aims to explore the utility and purpose of protest art through a number of examples, before coming to a conclusion about the main purpose of protest art.

One well-known example of protest art is Keith Haring’s “Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death” piece, which he made as a method of support for the charity ACT UP (Fields, 2020). At a time when four people were dying of AIDs each hour and the Reagan administration refused to acknowledge the epidemic (Fine Art Multiple, 2020), Haring’s art was produced and distributed as a poster to help raise awareness of the growing problem. The poster’s simple demands asked that people not remain ignorant, and instead learned about the issue, learned how to keep themselves and others safe, and demanded action from governments. It also encouraged people to talk more openly, a step which likely led to more discussions around symptoms, steps to lessen risk of infection, and affected loved ones that no doubt helped people take additional precautions against infection or encouraged more people to be tested and diagnosed earlier, allowing more time for potential treatments. Prior to “Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death”, Haring had already built a reputation from creating “chalk drawings on advertising panels in subway stations” (de Souza, 2024), with this method of creation helping to make his art immediately accessible and widely recognisable. In her article, de Souza argues that it was this accessible reputation that allowed Haring to use his art as a “powerful instrument of change”.

Figure 2 - "Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death" by Keith Haring, 1989.

By using his reputation to associate his support and this message of open discussion with ACT UP, this helped give the group further legitimacy as it raised awareness and funds for treatment, prevention, and policy (The Henry Ford). The organisation’s efforts to raise awareness led to more people learning about the epidemic which had largely been ignored by wider society. This awareness had a knock-on effect that eventually led to the introduction of the very effective HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) in 1995, and more widely available methods for testing in 1996 (HIV.gov), which were both part of a larger response to HIV/AIDS that led to a decrease in AIDS-related deaths over the coming years. A concrete example of ACT UP’s influence is that their protests in 1992 demanding more clinical trials involving women and people of colour eventually lead to guidelines requiring women and people of colour to be included in clinical research in return for grants from the NIH in 1994 (HIV.gov). In short, Haring’s art frequently became the face of activism and awareness movements that pushed for change at the federal level, and his posters were responsible for encouraging more open discussion and conversation around a topic which had become more deadly the longer it was ignored.

Another example of protest art is the Guerilla Girls “Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?”, a piece of art that used a bold and striking message in an attempt to tackle gender inequality in the art world. The piece draws a comparison to the fact that while 85% of the nudes on display in the Modern Art Sections of the Met Museum are female, only 5% of the artists are, and contrasts these two figures to show the immense disparity between how frequently female artists are treated as objects instead of subjects in art. The Guerrilla Girls designed this piece in 1989 in response to a commission for a billboard by the New York Public Art Fund (Met Museum, 2024). The intended output of a billboard demonstrated the desire to create a message with impact right from the start, and so it’s clear that the goal of this piece was to spread awareness about the disparity. Ultimately, the design was rejected, and so the Guerrilla Girls pivoted to another method of raising awareness - they had the posters displayed in the advertising spaces on New York City buses (Met Museum, 2024). This move ensured that a wide demographic of people was the poster and learned about the issue while going about their everyday lives. The message didn’t require people to go out of their way to visit the Met, and it didn’t limit the critique to people who were already involved in art spaces. This allowed the message to reach a large audience and, as a result, garner more attention and support.

Figure 3 - "Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into The Met. Museum?" by the Guerrilla Girls, 1989.

The poster’s accessibility via public buses during its inception is likely the reason that it is regarded as such an iconic and well-known design today. However, despite the poster’s success at raising awareness about gender discrimination in the art world, the message itself appears to have had little impact. While only 5% of artists on display in the Modern Arts Sections were female in 1989, strangely, that number had dropped to 4% in 2012 (Moss, 2020). Equally disparaging is research which shows that while 30% of solo shows at London major institutions were by female artists in 2016, this number had dropped to 22% by 2017, demonstrating that these already low numbers are still changeable (Steedman, 2017). Ultimately, while it is very clear from the piece’s noted status that “Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met Museum?” raised awareness for the issue among the general public, it is equally clear that this awareness led to a practically negative amount of tangible change as a result.

Figure 4 - "Les Miserables" by Banksy, 2016.

A final example to consider is Banksy’s “Les Miserable”, a piece of graffiti that the artist placed opposite the French Embassy in London as a way to critique and raise awareness of the violent partial destruction of the Calais refugee camp, The Jungle, and the eviction of around 1,500 refugees (Banksy Explained, 2016). The piece depicts the character of Cosette from Les Misérables being exposed to tear gas, as tears streak down her cheeks while the French flag flutters behind her. Next to her is a QR code that, when scanned, shows a video of French authorities using “tear gas, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades” (Banksy Explained, 2016) while attempting to forcibly evict refugees from sections of the camp. The French authorities had previously denied claims that they had used tear gas, but footage of the event proved otherwise. While this video had already been circulated after it was posted, Banksy’s inclusion of the QR code in the art drew more attention to the video, ensuring that anyone who saw the piece in real life or in a photo would have the opportunity to witness the recorded events for themselves, completely disregarding the French authorities description of the events.

However, while Bankey’s art clearly drew attention to the issues surrounding France’s treatment of the refugees travelling there for safety, it doesn’t seem as though the piece has sparked much notable political change. In 2024, Politico reporter Clothilde Goujard visiting Calais describes “frequent raids” which typically occur every 2 days, “strict new migration laws”, and “more aggressive policing”, which have all made life in the area that previously held The Jungle camp more difficult and dangerous. Worryingly, local non-profits explain that police raids are interrupting food distribution efforts, while members of Doctors Without Borders describe regularly treating “fractures, cuts, sprains, and eye injuries” that are all “direct consequences” of the methods that the police use to try and evict people (Goujard, 2024). From this report, it’s very clear that, despite the widespread awareness of the way police are treating refugees in Calais, very little material change has occurred as a result of this awareness.

In conclusion, it seems fair to say that the role political art plays in social issues is the role of raising awareness. Keith Haring’s “Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death” poster is a good example of how art can spread awareness and understanding of an issue and go on to create more conversations around a specific problem. The awareness Haring and his art brought to ACT UP allowed the organisation to channel this attention in activism and fundraising, and it was these activities that were responsible for larger political and medical change (notably, their influence over guidelines expanding to involve women and people of colour in clinical trials). Meanwhile, Banksy and the Guerrilla Girls seem to have lacked an association with a more specific activist body. Since they could reasonably be considered artists first, whose concerns span a wide range of issues, it’s no wonder why their pieces often serve to spread awareness of an issue but don’t lead to an organised push for change. It is arguable that if an activist group were to adopt these pieces as part of a wider campaign for change, then something could be achieved. However, it seems that when it comes to protest art, the art can create awareness, but it’s the people themselves who have to actively fight for change.

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Figure 5 - The album cover for Live at Tompkins Square Park (2024) by Adult Human Females.

This post's thumbnail was inspired by Adult Human Females' Live at Tompkins Square Park (2024) album cover. Adult Human Females are a punk band from New York made up of four trans women. The band's name deliberately recontextualises the phrase often used to define the word "women" when trying to exclude trans women. In America's current political climate, the fact that the band are continuing to play shows and openly identify themselves as trans is, in itself, an act of protest. Their songs, which satirise and find irony in their experiences as trans women, further this act.

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Sources:

Banksy Explained (2016). Les Misérables. https://banksyexplained.com/les-miserables-2016/

Cocherane, L. (2025, April, 25). "Protect the Dolls" T-shirt becomes a fashion symbol for trans rights. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/apr/25/protect-the-dolls-t-shirt-fashion-symbol-trans-rights

de Souza, I. (2024, May 31). Keith Haring's AIDS Activism. MyArtBroker. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/keith-haring-aids-activism

Fields, L. (2020, November 19). Facing death from AIDS, Keith Haring kept creating. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/facing-death-from-aids-keith-haring-kept-creating/16169/

Fine Art Multiple. (2020). The Boy Who Never Stopped Drawing. https://fineartmultiple.com/blog/keith-haring-graffiti-artist/

Goujard, C. (2024, July 2). Calais' Jungle is gone, but the migrants keep coming. Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/calais-jungle-gone-migrants-far-right-english-channel-cross-united-kingdom-france/

HIV.org. A Timeline of HIV and AIDS. https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline

Moss, E. (2020). ‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?’: a multimodal

critical discourse analysis of the presentation of women in feminist artwork. Innervate, Volume 12. https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/documents/innervate/19-20/engl3094-emily-moss.pdf

Steedman, M. (2017). Representation of Female Artists in Britain in 2017. Research Paper No. 4. Freelands Foundation. https://freelandsfoundation.imgix.net/documents/Representation-of-Female-Artists-in-Britain-Research-2017.pdf

The Henry Ford. IGNORANCE = FEAR, SILENCE = DEATH Fight AIDS ACT UP Poster, 1989. https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/493038

The Met. Museum. (2024). Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/849438

Figures:

Figure 1 - Cocherane, L. (2025, April, 25). "Protect the Dolls" T-shirt becomes a fashion symbol for trans rights. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/apr/25/protect-the-dolls-t-shirt-fashion-symbol-trans-rights

Figure 2 - The Henry Ford. IGNORANCE = FEAR, SILENCE = DEATH Fight AIDS ACT UP Poster, 1989. https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/493038

Figure 3 - Tate. (2025). Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum? https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-do-women-have-to-be-naked-to-get-into-the-met-museum-p78793

Figure 4 - Canvas Design. (2021, May 12). Google Adds Banksy Les Miserables To Its Digital Archive. https://www.canvasdesign.co.uk/blog/banksy-les-miserables/

Figure 5 - Adult Human Females. (2024). Live at Tompkins Square Park [Album]. AHF Records.