Whether the commonly held construct that immense suffering is a source of great art, is true or false, one fact that cannot be disputed is its role in unending debates. There are arguments that suffering and turbulent times often inspire artistic impressions because they give those who experience them a voice and content, but doubts have also been raised in relation to these phenomena being a source of good art. Though preceding theorists noted the association between art and violence, authors such as Fraser (1974) posited that violence is manifested in contemporary arts. According to Fraser (1974), violence is epitomized in the historical and political events of the 21st century, and its relationship to art is observed through the emotional and psychological appeal and response it generates. However, the dual relationship between the two phenomena has also been suggested through examination of how art can be violent to the people, and how violence can be turned to art. In light of this knowledge, this paper examines the association between art and violence in the context of the recent case of Dakota Pipeline construction and subsequent peaceful protests. The Dakota Pipeline case depicts the relationship between art and violence by simultaneously highlighting the importance of art as a source of conflict, and its use as a voice and medium for presenting the plight, and advocating interests of the afflicted groups.
The Fundamentals of Art and Violence
Art and violence have a long history. Researchers posit that the oldest recorded visual art is “violent”. The basis for this observation are discoveries of portraits of dangerous predators and animals hunted at the time, scratched onto the walls of caves using charcoal by prehistoric artists 30,000 years ago. Similar artistic impressions, including of battlefields, have since been discovered in other places worldwide. The message from such art was simple “to obtain life, life had to be sacrificed”. Since then, art has played a crucial role as a conduit of information and messages intended to elicit different emotional and psychological responses that may lead to intended action or simply bring to light the underlying situation. Such is the role of the recently concluded International Art in Response to Violence Conference hosted by the Northeastern University of Illinois. According to Ayman-Nolley (2016), the lead contact person at the conference, the interdisciplinary event sought to demonstrate the role of visual art in the expression, documentation, and communication of violence through its diverse forms including paper presentations, exhibits, workshops, and direct participations. The event serves as a commemoration of the role of art not just in highlighting the violent nature of humans, but also in preaching harmony and peaceful coexistence.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Different theories have been put forward to explain why art is used to depict violence, but the circumstances that lead to violence differ from context to another, including the outcomes, hence no one theory can be used to generalize these contexts. However, under most circumstances fear is argued to be the spur that drives artists to express violence and cruelty, phenomena abhorred by most in real life. One can argue that fear is central to the domination of religious art by violence, especially in depictions of Christianity, though the intended message is that of peace through presentation of shared suffering. However, in other circumstances, art may be used to express mere feelings such of revenge. Such is the case in one of the works by a renowned female painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, whose brutal and gruesome depiction of Judith Slaying Holofernes in one of the artistic works regarded as a monumental masterpiece, is interpreted as a representation of the events in Artemisia’s life, including rape at the age of 18 years (Art Institute Chicago, 2014). The gruesome depiction of the king’s general, Holofernes, decapitation by the heroine Judith, is the climax of the biblical story, and an act intended to save the Jewish people. Many other art forms take a similar approach by preaching peace through depiction of violence and cruelty.
Depiction of Art and Violence in the Case Study
The Dakota Pipeline case is can be used to capture the two discourses surrounding art and violence – art as the spur for violence, and how violence can be turned to art. In spite of the later dominating discussions for centuries, especially in relation to aestheticization of violence through contemporary art, the objective is demonstrate that turning violence to art does not necessarily imply painting of the gruesome acts witnessed, but rather presentation of different ideologies and ethos instigating the violence. It is important to note that art in the Dakota Pipeline should not be taken out of context because the events are still occurring, therefore, in referring to art and violence, it implies both in high culture, where violence was autonomously aestheticized through fine art and literature; and in popular culture, where aestheticization of violence is dependent on mass media, including television and newspapers, reporting on crime and warfare. Thus, “aesheticization” can be used to present the different discourses underlying the relationship between art and violence.
The theory of art as a spur for violence in the Dakota Pipeline and peaceful protests case is underpinned in the very cause of the protests. In October 29th 2016, Pantinkin reporting for Aljazeera posited the begging of the clashes over the Dakota Pipeline. However, the actual peaceful protests began in April when thousands of residents began camping on the proposed path of the pipeline. According to Pantinkin (2016), the contentious issues were that the pipeline intended to cross the sacred burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the local community, and the Missouri river, the main water source for the community. The standoff between the protesters at the Sacred Stone camp and the police eventually led to violent protests. However, it is evident that art in the form culture played a significant role in spurring the protests that eventually turned violent.
The situation can be used to depict violence of art towards people, which was historically epitomized in the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) that establishes the link between violence, trauma, memory and art. According to Perry (2002), the Chinese communist revolution served to highlight the role of ideology, organizations, and social structures towards violence. These factors are perceived as a form of art by communities associated with them. However, Perry (2002) posits that the most significant outcome of the Cultural Revolution was the revolutionary process of mass mobilization. According to Perry (2002), the success of the revolution is underpinned on mass mobilization of emotions, as a form of psychological engineering. The findings by Perry (2002) corroborate Fraser (1974) argument that art is observed through the emotional and psychological appeal and response it generates, which was the ingredient to the Dakota pipeline protests.
Since the peaceful protests at the Dakota pipeline site turned chaotic, there have been various presentations and depictions of the situation that can be regarded as art through television and newspapers. Some of the reports have illustrations of live and still scenes of protests, while others offer descriptions of the actual developments during the protests. For instance, Park and Cuevas (2016) posited that “a live stream from the site in North Dakota showed a chaotic, loud scene, with people screaming and car horns honking”, events that led to description of the situation as a riot. This is an example of how art can be used to depict violence. In another account, Pantinkin (2016) describes the actions taken by the police to break up the protesters, “Clad in riot gear and backed by armored vehicles, the police cleared the protest camp, using sound cannons, pepper spray, teaser guns, and shotguns said to contain beanbags against the protesters.” This form of literary art plays a crucial role in the presentation of violence under the context, and images of the scenes corroborate that argument that art has always been violent. The incident where the security workers let loose the attack dogs that bit protesters can be captured and compared to Artemisia’s brutal and gruesome biblical depiction of Judith Slaying Holofernes.
While scenes from protests at the site clearly illustrated how art can be used to depict violence, subsequent peaceful protests at different locations demonstrated that art can be a useful platform for propagating information to different audiences. The blue logo with the words “ReZpect our Water” and other painted and printed materials with different phrases are representations of how art can be used to convey a message by eliciting emotions. It is important to note that each of the artistic work has a theme associated with it, with the logo calling for respect for the water painted with splashing blue, a color often used to depict water sources. The adoption of different platforms by protesters to spread their message is captured in the study by Weibel, Altay, Bala et al. (2015), which posited that political protests of the modern dispensation assume spontaneous, non-institutional, mass action, with activists using online media to as conduits for their messages.
The paradigm shift in the representation of violence through art is immense, but the intentions cannot be mistaken as evidenced through the steps taken by stakeholders involved in the case, including delay of the construction process and calls for cessation of the process altogether by numerous stakeholders and pleas for the treaties on the same to be honored. Regardless of the outcome, the events at the Dakota pipeline exhibited the existence of strong association between art and violence through the capture of different scenes showing the brutal nature of humanity, depicted through the egregious acts committed by the security apparatus against protesters. The use of attack dogs and pepper spray against protesters, the high profile arrests, harsh treatments, police movement to clear the camp, protesters movement to clear the blocked bridge, and the solidarity matches across various cities, have been captured both in writing and visual art, and it remains to be seen if high culture artistic impressions of the same will be developed in the near future to act as reminders of the strained relationship between the government and its citizens.
The peaceful, turned chaotic protests at the Dakota Pipeline served to highlight the relationship between art and violence, only in this case, the situation cannot be argued to be aestheticized through art as theorists posit. The images captured in writing, videos, and pictures, not only corroborate the argument of art being violent, but also highlight critical events that historically, portray the country and humanity as violent. Throughout history, art has been used to depict violence and the Dakota pipeline case is no exception. However, the use of art as a source of violence and depiction for the same brings to the fore its important role as a platform, a voice for the oppressed, through which they can express their concerns and seek redress. Therefore, one can argue that while art is historically intertwined with violence, its importance in preaching peace cannot be understated.
References
Art Institute Chicago. (January 2014). Violence and Virtue: Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Judith Slaying Holofernes”. Retrieved on 28 November 2016 from: http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/violence-and-virtue-artemisia-gentileschi-s-judith-slaying-holofernes.
Ayman-Nolley, S. (October 2016).7th International Art in Response to Violence Conference. Northeastern Illinois University. Retrieved on 28 November 2016 from: http://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/chinese-187-art-and-violence-cultural-revolution.
Fraser, J. (1974). Violence in the Arts. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Park, M., & Cuevas, M. (November 2016). Dakota Access Pipeline clashes turn violent. CNN. Retrieved on 28 November 2016 from: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/21/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protests/.
Patnkin, S. (October 2016). Standing Rock tribe protests over North Dakota pipeline. Aljazeera (NewsGrid). Retrieved on 28 November 2016 from: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/10/north-dakota-native-americans-protest-pipeline-161028150518748.html.
Perry, E. (2002). Moving the masses: Emotion work in the Chinese Revolution. Mobilization: An International Quarterly , 7 (2), 111-128.
Weibel, P., Altay, C., Bala, S., Bazzichelli, T., Bertram-Nothangel, O., Bonadies, Á., ... & Sloterdijk, P. (2015). Global Activism: Art and Conflict in the 21st Century . MIT Press.
