When Art And Protest Go Together

“Flag!” Lulu, my parrot, said. “What flag was that?”

Lulu, my parrot, spoke as I hurriedly walked out of the Tate Modern Museum. Nina, the Myna, flew in and joined us as I sat down on a bench facing the Thames River.

“What flag are you talking about?” Nina, the Myna, asked Lulu.

“Well, I saw him standing before a flag in the museum for a long time. It was brown and dirty, and the cloth was also looking worn out. I was curious why it attracted his attention.”

“Tate is an art museum, Lulu. We will not appreciate it unless we understand what the flag signifies.” I said as I sipped coffee. Cool breeze reminded the arrival of autumn to us. Far away, across the river the dome of St Pius Cathedral was shining in the evening light.

“Tell me more about the flag.”

“Yes. That must be a flag of protest, my guess.”

“You got it right, Nina. Teresa Margolles created it. She comes from Mexico where people get killed in the violence of gangsters. And that includes innocent people too.” Nina is a recent addition to my family of birds. She is curious, brilliant and articulate. Much like her boyfriend, Lulu, the parrot.

“Let me check how many died in Mexico,” Nina, the Myna said, “hmmm … Google tell us ‘42,013 people were murdered in Mexico in 2023. In the first half of 2023, the most common cause of death was being shot with a firearm or other weapon. Shocking!” Nina checked the facts on my laptop.

“Yes, it’s shocking. Frightening. Forty-two thousand people murdered! How could they do it? You said the flag is linked to protest, Teresa Margolles is Mexican, and she must be aware of the dance of death around her. I see the jigsaw puzzle pieces are falling in place; a complete picture is appearing now.” Lulu glanced at Nina and moved closer to her.

“Teresa Margolles soiled the flag with blood, earth and other substances near the dead bodies. She is trained in forensic medicine, so she became ‘familiar with working with dead bodies and becoming aware of the crime and violence directly related to the drug trade in Mexico.’” I pointed to the picture of the flag.

“Teresa expressed what appalled her through her art. She showed the stark reality to the world through the flag. She is flagging of what is wrong with the Mexican Society.” Nina was on the dot in her analysis.

“Mexican society? This is the story of every country. Every society.” Lulu looked at her.

“You said it, Lulu. Look 451000 persons died of violence in 2021 in this world. And the destruction is at an all-time high level today.”

“This situation clearly means that the Government has failed.”

“Teresa waved a flag; will anything change? Who cares about the art and protest?”

“Well, Greta Thunberg was a one-person protester. She missed her Friday classes and sat near the Swiss parliament protesting lack of action on Climate issue. It moved the world.”

“The question is what we are going to do about it. Or about anything we feel strongly about.”

“Greta did it. Teresa did it in her way. Her art is drawing attention of the world to the massacre of people.”

“Artists speak truth to the power through their art and the language of protest. Even one person can make a huge impact while protesting. Rosa Parks did it.”

“Teresa Margolles found her answer. So did Greta and Rosa. The question is will you join a protest for a cause you believe in, or you will choose to be a bystander?”

“Didn’t Karl Marx say, ‘Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it?’”

“Hmmm …. If we don’t follow our heart, nothing will change.” Nina said, Lulu and I agreed.

PS: Feature photo courtesy Bernd on Pixabay

Vivek S Patwardhan

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others/ All work copyrighted.