Censorship and
government control is a topic that has captivated my attention, particularly
when discussing China. It is a country filled with countless paradoxes
especially when concerning the political system and the expanding economic
development. A lot of debate has taken place about the direction the country is
heading as well as the extent to which China should exercise democracy and
become a more westernized society. While being labeled as a communist state,
modernity is a major desire and with this modernity comes more liberty to the general
public; a process that clearly contradicts itself. In the West, we are told so
little about China’s situation; absurd given how much influence it has on the
world and vice versa. “China is too big to be ignored” and yet I never realized
how scarce my understanding about the country is. I have decided to develop
this understanding by looking at its contemporary art protests. This will
explore the extent of freedom present. Furthermore, I aim to illustrate the
control of the government, questioning whether China really is becoming more
liberal.
In order to understand
art in China, especially protest art, it becomes essential to contextualize it
in terms of the turbulent history and the government policies. For instance,
the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s had tremendous socio-political
ramifications on the country; Mao Zedong ordered a large-destruction of art and
artifacts in order to eradicate signs of cultural history. As a result, this
evidently had major effects on the course of existing as well as future arts.
It sparked art that challenged the newly issued governmental system, portraying
level of dissatisfaction and rebellion. This form of art also came into play
due to Mao’s attempt to establish a new political system that enforced new
ideologies, utilizing a propagandist approach through arts. However, ironically
enough this had the opposite effect on many artists in the general public;
these favored revolutionary subjects in contrast to conventional themes such as
landscapes.
In my opinion
this phase becomes extremely pertinent when illustrating the level of
government control and analyzing the acts taken against it. Furthermore, it
gives us an impression of life and how it has varied through the influence of the
economic development. Since Mao, China
has been enjoying more freedom including in the arts however the extent is
arguable. In terms of state control, Will Hutton pointed out a pertinent
argument that China has moved “away from the all-pervasive control and
repression of the Maoist era, to allow a considerable degree of economic and
social freedom (including in practice, the right to strike), while keeping
political power firmly in the hands of the Communist Party”. This depicts how
China has benefitted from more liberty despite the amount of censorship taking
place. This creates a lot of ambiguity for someone studying Chinese art. It is
also vital to bear in mind that most information available about this topic
originates from Western media and is often biased or subjective. For me, this
has posed challenge when gathering information for this article, forcing me to
draw on certain assumptions.
Moreover it
seems that the fear of the government is still very common and several Chinese
artists who depict controversial elements of history in their art to raise
awareness, actually deny that there art is directly linked. For instance in an
interview I read with the artist Liang Weizhou I could not help but notice his
constant avoidance of politics, mentioning repeatedly that he is “not against
politics but just insensitive to them” (Hirsch Didier) even denying that his art is a direct criticism of the governmental
system. Similarly, “Execution” by Yue Minjun is believed to be inspired by the
protests at Tiananmen Square, yet the artist refuses to accept this fact or
provide justifications to what it symbolizes. Instead, there is a tendency for
many artist to relate their work on a wider, more global level as Minjun has
done: “Execution” has been associated to many historically significant
paintings symbolic of protest such as “The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya which commemorates the Spanish resistance to Napoleon’s armies, the Execution of Maximilian by Edouard Manet a series of paintings depicting the execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico”. (Nalini S.Malaviya)
Art and politics
continues to intertwine and there have hence been a number of artists involved
in social activism. Ai Weiwei, a political activist, has for instance been fighting
for democracy and human rights in China for many years. Additionally, a main
example to exemplify the degree of government control and artistic restraints
is the increased number of evictions of artists from their villages even when
lease periods have remained. Many have been subjected to assault and severe
injury, triggering a large amount of artistic protests. As an example, 20 years
after the Tiananmen Square episode, Chen Guang who was a soldier at the time,
put together an art exhibition of paintings based on primary sourced
photographs illustrating the devastating affects of the event. However,
when the local galleries refused to display his art, Guang posted the images on
the Internet, which were removed almost instantly- an effective example of
censorship! In the words of Will Clem, an uprising is beginning to take form
yet is still beneath the surface. The population of China is getting more
dissatisfied with the limited possibilities but perhaps not so much the system.
Ryan Pyle pointed out that “protestors are not challenging the Party rule, but
they want justice, and no corruption”, and once the controlling government
affects people immediately and individually, people will start to voice their
dissatisfaction and hence the government is forced to act upon this. This is
particularly seen through many works of art.
Another artist
Liu Bolin has become famous as the “invisible man”, using his art as a form of
silent protest. By painting himself, he utilizes his own body to camouflage. He
aims at illuminating the fragile status of artists, also drawing attention to
problems sparked from the rapid unpredictable modernization. He often uses
slogans (interestingly a common tool used by communist) also painted on his
body, which forces the audience to reconsider and reread not only the slogan but also his
individual circumstances.
The government
likes to put up the appearance of being an open and free country, therefore
there is freedom however it is the state-version and therefore limited;
everyone has all the rights as long as they are not exercised. This is the
issue with many of the contemporary artists; their work serves the purpose of
spotlighting government failings and the degree of corruption. For instance, worker
and peasant protest movements have multiplied as the economy has grown, which
reflects both greater confidence and the promises not kept.
The control has
indeed limited several opinions to be voiced in China over a long duration of
time. However, this does not mean that the opinions and resentment are
inexistent. Although in my opinion it is not so much the government people are
dissatisfied with, rather the corruption and the inability to actually reach
vital information. Modernization has however provided more potential for
freedom while still heavily restricting it. The more China develops, the more
these problems will surface. Art has proven a useful tool to illustrate this
and although it may be censored, the fact that it is only proves this point
even more.
