Last week, I visited the National Portrait Gallery with a class and was astounded to see a photo-portrait memorializing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. My class was visiting on October 13, and Jobs had died only a week earlier, on October 5. My eyes grew even wider when I learned that the portrait was actually prepared, mounted, and ready for public exhibition the very next day after his death. Clearly, Steve Jobs was such a monumental figure in the eyes of the American public that the museum felt it necessary to honor his passing without any delay.
Occupy Wall Street, the social movement that gained speed and media attention after Jobs' death, is said to have been inspired by a poster designed by Canadian protest organizing group Adbusters, which features a ballerina balancing atop the emblematic Wall Street bull sculpture. The heading above the image inquired, "What is our one demand?" Though the protesters in the dozens of demonstrations across the country have different ideas about what this one demand is (and true, most people still don't know what the movement is gunning for), they were inspired by this unique image: a graceful dancer poised elegantly on the head of a raging bull, with crowds of protesters in the hazy background. What exactly is this image trying to convey? Different activists have had varying interpretations of the message, but have taken it as the symbol for their multi-faceted movement all the same.
So what can we learn from this? Nothing we didn't already know. But it's always helpful to be reminded of the underestimated power of art.
I wonder who came up with the idea of creating an emblem for this loose group of protestors. It is interesting that when people want to speak out, they turn to the arts and artists--mostly visual and music. Think about the Guerilla Girls for example. Are there any musicians out there who write about corporate greed, in the way that Bob Dylan and CSN wrote anti-war lyrics? Just curious....
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