Is Art Always Political?

It’s a question you hear often: Is all art political? That Picasso? That contemporary performance art piece? That meme you saw on your feed today? Is it all really political?

To answer that question, we’re going to have to take a deeper look at art, meaning, and propaganda. It’s easy to look at art that has a clear political message, for example, political cartoons, and to see that it holds that sort of sentiment. But what about something as abstract as Jackson Pollock’s paint splatters?

Even those can be quantified through the lens of politics if we delve into the history of the time. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union produced art that was highly academic and realistic. To counter this, the CIA began backing art movements that pushed the opposite ideology. The CIA claimed that the artworks it backed, like Pollock’s, maintained creative freedom and expression while touting the American spirit. And with this explanation in hand, Pollock’s paint splatters come so much more into focus.

Art never exists in a vacuum. It is always a response to something. It could be a response to something as simple as having to wait in line for coffee too long. Or it could be a revealing glimpse at life as a member of a marginalized community. Whatever you choose to say with your art, it always has an origin, and that inherently makes it political.

If we turn to films for a moment, we can look at the enormous impact propaganda like Birth of a Nation has on society. Birth of a Nation  can be lauded as a technological marvel of its time, employing brand new techniques such as zooming in or less reliance on static shots. In fact, this was the first movie to be screened at the White House. Students in art majors today are shown the film as a piece of art to learn from. But that doesn’t take away from the political aspect of this artwork. Indeed, there was a surge of people joining the Ku Klux Klan after this movie was first screened. The movie’s messaging that slaves were a lower class of people only interested in preying upon white women is a message that still lingers today. Even at modern award events like the Golden Globes or the Emmys, people of color’s achievements are seen as secondary to those of their white peers.

All this is to say that yes, art is not only political, but it can also have long-lasting effects on society. This doesn’t mean that every piece of art that is made is a modern Odyssey, but each piece dictates a smaller narrative of the society we live in. Imagine all art that is being made right now as an enormous tapestry. Some parts are embroidered, others are quilted, and you can make sense of the smaller details if you look at each part separately. But look at it from above, and you will see an imperfect mirror of the society we live in today, reflected right back at you. That is the nature of the art we all make.