Why Art is Important in Justice Movements

By: Grace Molina

Days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, a group of local artists painted a massive street mural along Canfield Drive. The yellow letters spelled "Black Lives Matter" so large they could be seen from the air. It was expression, strategy, and solidarity. 

Art has been an essential, however overlooked, part of justice movements throughout history. It renders intellectual concepts into emotional ones. It speaks when words can't. Through murals, protest signs, zines, poetry, or performance, youth have always used art to turn pain into purpose and outrage into revolution.

From Paintbrushes to Power

Art has always been intertwined with politics. Indeed, some of the most effective movements have used visual storytelling to mobilize support, question systems, and put humanity at the forefront.

In apartheid South Africa, the Black Consciousness Movement also had a generation of students and youth leaders who used poetry, theater, and painting to resist white domination. The Soweto Uprising of 1976, in which schoolchildren revolted against Afrikaans-only language teaching, set off an outpouring of resistance artwork. Anti-apartheid posters were secretly printed, and plays such as Sizwe Banzi Is Dead spoke to the world with front-line stories.

Most recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has transformed city streets into canvases. In Washington, D.C., artists collaborated with local youth to paint "Black Lives Matter" in large, yellow letters on the street in front of the White House in 2020. "That mural gave us a voice in a place where we were told we didn't belong," 17-year-old artist Brianna Harris told NPR in an interview. "It wasn't for Instagram. It was for history."

Protest as Performance

Theatre, poetry slams, and performance art have all been used as forms of protest that bypass the traditional media and speak directly to communities.

In Chile, 2019, a feminist performance, “Un violador en tu camino” (A Rapist in Your Path), went viral globally. Created by a collective of young women artists called Las Tesis, the chant-and-dance protest called upon state-sanctioned sexual violence. Teenagers and older adults performed it across Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. 

In the US, performance poetry has proved to be a precious asset for young people in schools and juvenile detention facilities. Initiatives like “Youth Speaks” and “The Moth" have provided a platform for marginalized youth to reclaim their stories in front of live audiences. "You listen differently when somebody is crying as they are speaking," poet and activist Aja Monet said. "Poetry creates room for truth that data can't reach."

Zines, Stickers, and Street Art: DIY Activism

Youth have also taken resistance into their own hands, for decades, in the form of zines, stickers, and hand-drawn posters. During the 1990s, the Riot Grrrl feminist punk movement circulated hand-made zines in protest of misogyny, rape culture, and racism. Digital zines today continue that legacy, addressing everything from police brutality, to trans rights.

Street art—whether stencil graffiti or wheat-pasted posters—allows activists to speak directly to people. In Hong Kong, 2019, protests for democracy were blanketed by anonymous young artists who covered the city with brightly colored "Lennon Walls" of protest art and sticky-note messages of support.

Why Art Works in Justice Movements

Art works because it individualizes problems. You can scroll through a news headline, but it's hard to look away from a girl silently standing in front of a mural of her dead brother. You might skim a policy brief, but you'll remember the face painted on a brick wall, crying out for justice.

Art also brings people together, forming communities of shared values. In this manner, it doesn't just portray justice movements. It sustains them.

"You can't have revolution without joy, without rhythm, without art," activist and scholar Adrienne Maree Brown said. "Art is the heartbeat of movements."

A Message to Youth

If you can paint, dance, collage, code, or even dream—you already have a tool for justice. Every sketchbook, sidewalk chalk, sticker, or screen has the potential to be a platform.

This moment in time will be remembered not just for what was said, but for what was created. If the system will not listen to you, paint it loudly. Sing it softly. Post it anyway.

Even if the chants fade and the crowds go home, the art remains.

Works Cited

Denham, Jemima. “Keyonna Jones Reflects on the Role of Art in DC BLM Protests.” The Hoya, https://thehoya.com/news/keyonna-jones-reflects-on-the-role-of-art-in-dc-blm-protests/. 

“Hong Kong’s Lennon Walls - in Pictures.” The Guardian, 11 July 2019, http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/jul/11/hong-kongs-lennon-walls-in-pictures.

“Las Tesis Feminist Protest Song of Chile Goes Global.” BBC, 13 Dec. 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-50751736.

“The Village Voice Profiles Aja Monet.” The Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry-news/72986/the-village-voice-profiles-aja-monet-. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.

Wikipedia contributors. “Not in Front of the Children.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 12 July 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Not_in_Front_of_the_Children&oldid=1300162989.

Maree Brown, Adrienne. Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good.  AK Press, 2019.