Seeing through the lens of everyday objects, what is ‘protest’?
Small Objects Big Protest: Everyday Objects Infused with Messages of Protest is an online exhibition which presents how protests are carried out through everyday objects that contain protest messages from 1770 to the present.
Through objects in which people’s opinions are infused, the exhibition shows protest manifested in subtle and savvy ways, breaking the stereotypical image that marches or such events are the only way to get your voice heard.
The exhibition has been curated by a group of five MA students from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies who are interested in the power of everyday objects.
Small Objects Big Protest displays objects endowed with meaning beyond their original function, interpreting protest from a new angle and revealing the charm and excitement hidden in everyday objects, which may seem too mundane scrutinise in daily encounters. Objects shown in the exhibition are mainly selected from the Smithsonian Institution.
The urge to fight for justice and human rights has never been hindered by any forces throughout history. Adding messages of protest to an everyday object has become a strong method of participation in political and social debates. Even at a time when life is disrupted by a global pandemic, people have still found creative ways to speak up for themselves. The most obvious example is face masks printed with slogans and logos of protests and campaigns. While being an inextricable part of people’s daily life, the object fulfils the need to voice opinion.
Face masks designed by Naomi Osaka with names of African Americans printed in white, worn by Naomi Osaka at the U.S. Open Tennis Championship in September 2020, Collection of the Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Naomi Osaka in 2020.
Considering the extraordinarily strong link between the ‘daily’ and resistance’ in objects which act as medium to express beliefs, the exhibition arouses questions such as: What is ‘protest’? Who is involved? What can protest be?
Tin Wan Wong, a student from the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies course, reflected on what she has learnt when working with objects with such dual identities:
“In recent years, large-scale rallies and protests have been held more frequently than before (such as Rhodes Must Fall, Back Lives Matter, Umbrella Revolution). It seems that democracy and liberal principles are receding.
"However, what I saw in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution is that people are inspired to use objects in their daily life, as a way of empowering people to think for themselves, which is a representation of everyone can bring change to the liberal democracy.”
As one of the world’s largest museum education and research complex situated in the United States, the Smithsonian Institution holds a wide range of collections of art and design, history and culture, and science and nature. There are also objects loaned from the Victoria and Albert Museum, which focuses on applied arts, decorative arts, and design from all around the world.
Small Objects Big Protest: Everyday Objects Infused with Messages of Protest opened on 6 December and runs until 6 March 2022.
Feature image
Illustration by MA student Weng Kei Ip. Based on Equality basketball shoes worn by Lebron James for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the Washington Wizards on December 18, 2017, Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of LeBron James 2017.