The biggest source of activism in the world of media and any type of advertisements is quite clearly influential for obvious reasons. Tons of controversial issues are put to surface daily, whether about race, gender, or other issues such as the environment or politics. Visual activism is important because it is all around us and controls us in a sense.
“Anonymous took the best out of the possibilities afforded by the remix culture and the web in order to create powerful images and symbols that stand for the collective as well as its campaigns. For instance, Gabriella Coleman (“Aesthetic”) affirms Anonymous “would be far weaker as a phenomenon without the masks, without their fantastic art work, without those videos”, and adds that “Anonymous is a faceless phenomenon that is everywhere represented via their artistic output”. Thus, the importance of the visual identity created by the collective is part of its power.”
Photo and Information above source
It is all about that type of enforcement and execution of your ideas that become appealing to people. It usually is when those ideas are against the usual status quo that people first begin paying more attention, then slowly more do, and more, and then it turns into an army backing up an idea or movement. That also means there will be opposers to this army, so there stands two armies, each with their own ideals and unwillingness to agree. That’s how life goes. And that is where visual activism becomes stronger. Figures and posters and rallies and conferences to exemplify these ideas made by whoever believing in whatever, and here we have propaganda, advertisements, rallies, protests, etc. It is all a cycle that will never end because let us be real, no one will ever agree on anything.
Nicholas Mirzoeff’s book called “How to See the World” brought this idea to a new light to me. I never really heard the words “visual activism” before reading it, but there are so many forms related to it. Mirzoeff discusses a lot of concepts of how the media and other bodies of movements are correlated and kind of redefine the way we look at the world around us.
Propaganda’s purpose is to demonstrate a certain idea or concept and compel people to think they are right. Whether they are right or wrong does not necessarily happen because they get their message heard and people begin to talk about it even more. Mirzoeff also states how visual thinking is related to visual activism which in turn has that aspect of representation. Mirzoeff also talks about how space can be used a type of medium because it had this meaning that seems to resonate and inspire people to feel a certain way towards someone. Space does not necessarily physical, though, as Mirzoeff explains how cyber-space presented a platform that allowed people to overcome physical prohibitions (Mirzoeff 262).
Mass media also helped catalyse the adoption of ideologies via “diffusion of the news by Facebook and other forms of peer-to-peer communication” (260). I like these quotes by him because it does get that point across about how the society we live in is so driven and compelled by these types of messages. It also really brings the ignorant people to a new light on a lot of issues they probably never even bothered to understand because it was in a different type of mindset than their own. Mirzoeff also states that, “In the face of domestic censorship and international ignorance” (Mirzoeff 267), who is trying to ignore it, and why should we look. You must take up a cause, deciding how you will express it, and considering how your campaign will be received (261). “Who are you claiming to be, and what are you claiming to stand for (Mirzoeff 274)? There is definitely potential for your campaign to encounter criticism in regards to your representation, demonstrated by the “artocracy” (Mirzoeff 261) movement.” These really represent the ideas that are presented by visual activism, at least I feel like they are.
At first I was kind of confused what visual activism really meant because I felt like it was pretty straightforward, or at least it was supposed to be. But in the end it means so much more. It talks about how we base our entire existence in a way because just looking at something like that in a certain way may change the whole way we live our lives like what we talk about or where we go.
“Effective visual activism is decided by your ability to express and depict your opinions to solidify the importance of your cause. It will evoke thought; these thoughts will inspire belief of your cause; the belief inspired will incite others to act; and action makes an impact (Mirzoeff 274).”
Source:
Mirzoeff, Nicholas. How to See the World. Great Britain: Penguin, 2015. Print.
Visual Representation 