For safety reasons, I have not included links to artists' source by default, except for those that have explicitly noted they want their social media accounts or other details spread.
For safety reasons, I have not included links to artists' source by default, except for those that have explicitly noted they want their social media accounts or other details spread. If the art in question still exists on the artist's social media, their watermarks stay. If not, they are removed. I want this to be as easy to deny as possible.
**What about other Hong Kong protest art threads?**
We take a look at how HK protest art portrays the protective gear HKers have to employ to defend against teargas and bullets in their pro-democracy movement.
Yellow is the colour of the HK democracy mvmt, and has been for many yrs, representing desire for suffrage. Our art is steeped in yellow and all that it implies, a symbol for where we came from, and where we hope to go. 1/8
a (ridiculous & short) #HongKong protest art thread
*Oct 14 2019*
@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Pepe alert! Clarification for those abroad: the frog doesn't carry the same alt-
##Update, Jan 25 2020
##Update, Jan 25 2020
UPDATE: Come on, we know Drake memes never stop. The one below from November is about boycotting pro-CCP, 'blue' shops, and supporting the #YellowEconomicCircle 😊
## Evangelion in #HongKong protest art: Warning - a (sad) thread
# Evangelion in #HongKong protest art: Warning - a (sad) thread
*Sep 23, 2019*
By now we all have rightfully dunked on the CCP-produced pile of cringe that took EVA aesthetics without engaging with the content. It was, surprise!, trying to ape this vid that HKers put out nearly 2 weeks ago. 1/7
By now we all have rightfully dunked on the CCP-produced pile of cringe that took EVA aesthetics without engaging with the content. It was, surprise!, trying to ape this vid [^1] that HKers put out nearly 2 weeks ago. 1/7
@ -51,3 +50,7 @@ This message is important - lots of HKers are depressed. It's also vital for the
UPDATE: A pic of EVA 01 trying to protecting Tokyo 3, with that now famous picture of the Siege of CUHK superimposed on it. I guess it's trying to say we shouldn't let kids bear the burdens of our wars? That or the students are about to go berserk?... 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
### Notes
[^1]: This is the [pro-CCP video in question.](https://twitter.com/rhokilpatrick/status/1176075324615839744)
Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son’ has been referenced a few times in the protest art, and highlights the tension between the regime's patrimonial condescension and HKers' awoken sense of self & independence.
Lady Liberty has become a potent symbol for HKer's fight for democracy, borne out of need to update our ideals for these revolting times. We trace the historical artistic influences to understand the mvmt's present & future.
It's 3 months since 21 July, the 1st major turning pt in the mvmt. It changed irrevocably the way HKers think about the HKPF, the MTR, their sense of security... We revisit the instances it popped up in our art threads.
HKers have been dousing teargas for a few months now. Let’s look at our firefighters' gear, methods, & tips for those affected by tear gas.
@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ Tell your hoomin to take you away from the affected area immediately. And make t
##Update, Nov 14 2019
##Update, Nov 14 2019
HKers have been eating teargas for months now, and some health effects are starting to manifest. We also have a better idea of some of the toxic stuff that gets released - and *stays on stuff* - so, some new materials on how to clean up have been released.
HKer's masks & respirators for braving teargas hv become synonymous with our pro-democracy mvmt. We trace the art to see how the masks hv evolved in use, & w/ them how new heroes hv arisen from an ordinary ppl.
@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ HKers are an ordinary ppl who'll resist w/ heroic courage, as regular ppl do in
##Update, May 27 2020
##Update, May 27 2020
At the start of the mvt there were a lot of pamphlets on various respirator combos one can get for withstanding teargas, like the one below from Aug. We've seen these reappear in recent days, a sign that HKers are prepared to walk into the fire & smoke once again.
I ❤️this. The various HK versions of 'La Liberté guidant le peuple' from the movement are stunning. All a tad different in tone and feel, but all build towards some unifying mythology.
We look at our more fantastic art of frontliners to see how HKers resist not just with hardhats & umbrellas, but also by being really, really, ridiculously good looking.
"In the year of 2019, the HK Resistance by sheer will summoned a variety of creatures great & small, to protect & guide them. In this bestiary, we highlight those that had some bite."
@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ After mths at this, we know who we are, what we want now. HKers are small like t
##Update, Nov 29 2019
##Update, Nov 29 2019
The Quiet Chicken (靜靜雞 / 靜雞雞)
@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ The Chicken's special power is discretion. Its name is a play on the Canto phras
##Update, Dec 2 2019
##Update, Dec 2 2019
We have more Chicken.
@ -145,26 +145,26 @@ Source: << not telling you>>
##Update, Dec 20 2019
##Update, Dec 20 2019
A family picture of HK's divine beasts! We have LionBird, Long Dragon, Strike Eagle, Quiet Chick, Meerkat (no, it really should be Mongoose), and also Happy Fish, which sounds like "raining" in Canto, and... well when it 'rains', better have your umbrella ready!
##Update, Feb 25 2020
##Update, Feb 25 2020
We’ve not had a good piece of Divine Beasts art in a while! Quiet Quiet Chicken manages to hold its own among the dragons and griffins and somehow look heroic 😅 - bravo to the artist
##Update, Apr 29 2020
##Update, Apr 29 2020
UPDATE: We finally have a proper bestiary compiled in Chinese! 'Happy fish' still confuses me a tad, but it's nice to see it in the mix! 🐠🐠🐠
##Update, Jun 7 2020
##Update, Jun 7 2020
Since we're talking about BEES. Not all critter that wants to become a Divine Beast gets to enter the pantheon. 密密Phone- "secretly phone"- appeared in Dec & was designed for a trolling strategy that's not worth talking about. It never caught on.
Guy Fawkes masks are ubiquitous in the HK mvmt. We look at protest art to see how its embrace has been less abt an engagement w/ the politics of the source materials, & more abt the legacy HKers want to leave to history.
As HKers reel from Chow's death, it's worth looking at an earlier collective trauma- HKPF shooting a volunteer in the eye- to see how art immortalises & spreads HKer's righteous rage, & what we can learn from the episode.
Early Oct, I wrote abt a 'radical idea' of disbanding HKPF - 6 weeks later, it's become, sometimes, part of the HK mvmt's main demands. We look at our protest art to understand how we got to where we are today.
An interesting development in our art is the realisation that the siege of CUHK went beyond proportionality - it's war. We compare it to WWII, we call this a 'war against tyranny', & we say the govt has declared war on us.
@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ We must not stop screaming. We must not stop resisting.
##Update, Nov 13 2019
##Update, Nov 13 2019
A lot more art on this today. Our art is calling the Siege of CUHK as basically an act of war. Hyperboles have been flying free in our art for a while, but the frequency & intensity of these images means this new sentiment is worth watching.
Angry men shouting, neither getting their pt across, & then someone throws a chair - captures the mvmt perfectly. We look at the times the meme has appeared to see all the things that hv made us mad since June.
@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ And why Jnr throws a damn chair.
##Update, Jan 29 2020
##Update, Jan 29 2020
We now have this version of the American Chopper meme with Lam and LinPig arguing about the merits of closing the border because of #coronaravirus. As you would expect, a chair gets thrown.
## A Women’s Place is in The Resistance - a #HongKong protest art thread
# A Women’s Place is in The Resistance - a #HongKong protest art thread
*Sep 24, 2019*
While HK govt's depiction of women in the movt has reeked of misogyny - they can only be mothers, sluts or virgins - HK art shows a fuller spectrum of womanhood and what female righteous anger looks like. 1/10
The bauhinia has long been a symbol of the city - a made-in-HK hybrid that's neither of the West nor the East. As a golden trophy for the CCP, it was a hated symbol, but HKers have in recent mths reclaimed it for their own. 1/9
As the mvmt wears on, many Hkers have started to feel depressed. Art has been an avenue to express this pain, but also a way for us to tell each other - you matter, you are not alone, we will walk this path together. 1/7
It's 5ys since the Umbrella Mvmt. We failed to win suffrage then but had vowed to return. Well, we're back. But the umbrella as a symbol has changed and reflects how much HKers have learnt from that first awakening 1/7
Teargas has become ubiquitous imagery. But as HKers learn to live with gas seeping into our homes & everyday lives, our art still cries out - this is not normal, *cannot* be normal, that we must find a way out of the fog. 1/7
cwylo
1 year ago