Abstract
During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time documenting the protests in Los Angeles through drawing and writing in a diary. This image is a recreation from a news image and captures some of the protests I was in during 2020. It is relevant because we need to keep our right to free speech and to nonviolent civil dissidence. When I initially wrote this statement, it was for an art submission for Judy Baca’s nonprofit, the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), where the piece was put on the wall outside.
Back when I submitted this, I wrote that I felt that in Trump's then-upcoming presidential term he may resort to using military power to crush non-violent protests. In the last year, this prediction has come true, and our society has started to normalize this behavior by creating a kind of cognitive dissonance. I have found that people like Trump dislike and try to stop creativity and expression because they are about power and control, and art has the ability to challenge and subvert that control. Consider the Renaissance work of Hieronymus Bosch or Pieter Bruegel the Elder which mirrored and challenged religious anxiety and obsession. Art will always shine light on the truth of society’s current state of being. Art will always find a way to command change.
Recommended Citation
Kartez, Jason
(2025)
"Hollywood 2020,"
Loyola Interdisciplinary Journal of Public Interest Law: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/lijpil/vol3/iss1/7
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, First Amendment Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons, Public Interest Commons
