It’s Activism, But is it Art?
Some thoughts on the feminist art exhibition at London’s Tate gallery
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Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, shoppers noticed strange changes to the price of goods in supermarkets across Russia. Chocolate appeared cheap at 14 rubles a bar, jars of coffee 400 rubles. As consumers looked at the price labels more closely they read about the 14 lorries of humanitarian aid that had been blocked from entering Kherson to reach desperate Ukrainian civilians, and they learned about the 400 people that had been sheltering in a school building as it was blown up by the Russian army.
At the start of the Ukrainian invasion the Russian president Vladimir Putin made it illegal for citizens to say anything negative about the war, cracking down hard by arresting and imprisoning people who openly protested against what was going on. Quickly seeking alternative ways to challenge this tyranny of the state, artist activists put together DIY packs of false price tags with anti-war messaging that people could print out and put up in their local shops. In a country where the government controls all media messaging, these were small, disruptive acts of protest to raise awareness of what was really happening. The intention was to get…
