Art as a Form of Protest
A look at how art is used in protests in Iran and other places of conflict
How do you fight oppression when the oppressor has guns and chemical weapons?
The answer is by no means a clear or straightforward one, but one method used throughout history has been art. Art is not (usually) violent, but it can give strength to the weak, and create a unity that the oppressor seeks to destroy. This may sound like an idealized fantasy, and while the idea is simplified, we can see examples of art as a form of protest in our current lives.
For the past 47 years, people in Iran have been fighting against an authoritarian government with little media coverage and no aid from other countries. In 2022, the murder of Mahsa Amini sparked the Women, Life, Freedom movement which gained more media traction than previous protests. The second wave of protests began in December of 2025 with the Internet blackout in Iran, when tens of thousands of protestors were killed by the regime and the protest became a revolution—an ongoing, daily reality for those living in Iran and their loved ones overseas.
These recent movements have gained a lot more attention worldwide, with many more people calling for an end to the authoritarian regime. One key factor in this increased attention has been the music protestors have been creating. For example, Iranian singer Mehdi Yarrahi released multiple songs during the first waves of the Women, Life, Freedom protests. He was eventually arrested in 2023, and taken to prison where his sentence included 74 lashes. This severe punishment did not stop him, and he has recently released a new song in collaboration with another Iranian who was arrested, this time for responding to the Supreme Leader’s tweet with a single dot and receiving more likes on the platform. Beyond showing the resilience of those involved, songs can also serve as a way to spread awareness. In Tehran University, students in the art faculty released a video singing a song, which was then covered by other brave students across social media, in spite of dancing or singing in public being banned by the regime, even when they are not being used as a form of protest.
Music is just one use of art in the fight against oppression. Visual arts such as political cartoons have been used as a comedic yet introspective tool in protesting for years. While they may seem like a method mostly used in the past, there are many modern cartoonists who draw recent political messages. For example, Graeme MacKay published a cartoon in The Week on January 20, 2026, pointing out Ukraine’s current war being ignored as many other issues take the global spotlight.
Graffiti is another widely used form of protest, with one of the most famous projects by Banksy being his art on the Segregation Wall in Palestine, which has been a project since 2005. In America, protestors use fashion to protest their political figures, creating 3D costumes to wear in rallies as a way to garner attention and once again infuse non-violent protests into a violent landscape. Of course, these are a very small sample of the multitude of protests through art around the world. For thousands of years, artists have used the arts to express themselves during times of oppression, and become a source of hope to those who fight for freedom.
