Yan, the girl who trying to use her artworks to spread out the information of the Hong Kong movement.
"If we lose, we lose together!"
Q1. Short Intro
Hi My name is Yan. I am 20 years old .
I am a year3 student studying at The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Q2. What style do you use in your design?
My design based on Photos and short sentences and the target audiences are basically the young generation. Some of the artists may use lots of words to create their worksBut for me, I used to create a cartoon or sketch style.
Q3. What is the concept of design?
Most of the time, My design concept is based on TV news. I need to create a new poster about what happened about the protest, for example, police brutality.More than that, some of the “yellow ribbon” may quarrel because of different opinions. Then, I will create a new poster letting people focus more on the protest rather than quarrel. When I know that it will have upcoming events, I will create posters to announce people to participate. Sometimes, I will watch live on CHP (Centre for Health Protection) press conference, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong press conference, to get inspiration for creation. Sometimes, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong (Carrie Lam) may say something ridiculous. I will catch the bitting point to create new posters.
Q4. What is the core value of Protest art?
For me, protest art is an artwork contain protesters' hope, aim, and ideology. Sometimes, it is hard to explain using words. However, art can, and also representing the protest. No matter it is a virtual copy, physical copy, or artworks that stick on the street. All of those artworks expressing dissatisfaction with the government. We cannot use another method to spread out our voice because the government will be suppressing us. Therefore, the Lennon wall and protest art is a way to spread out Hong Kong citizen voices.
Q5. How do you describe the relationship between protest and protest art?
I think that protest art is a portrayal of the protest. From June to August, the productions of protest art, poster, and propaganda art have been increased rapidly. More than 20 posters or artworks may spread out on the internet after a day of protest. However, the number of protests has dropped because of the many issues that happened in 2020. That affects artists to produce new artwork; it may affect the people concentrating on the protest long-term. In my view, protest art playing an essential role in the protest.
Q6. Have you ever thought of selling your design
if yes answer (1a) if no answer (1b)
(1a) If so, does it violate the protest art intention?
(1b) If not why not?
I haven’t think of selling my design or artworks. Why not? I think the reason is that when I am working on it, my intention was not earning money from it. For an ordinary artist, maybe selling their artworks is to maintain their living. But for me, I am not doing it for money. My motivation for creating is on the front-liner who stand up and against the police or government. For me, creating art is like atonement to those front-line siblings. I think my works are negligible compared with their devote. So, I don’t think selling my artwork is suitable, and I will not accept people selling my design. Sometimes I will be mad about people who changed my design. I will think those people are not respected by the artist and the artwork. However, I did not pursue those people. I usually posted my artwork on TG (telegram). Although they changed my design, however, they are still doing the same thing as I do. We can see lots of artworks on IG (Instagram) did not credit the artist. I think the reason is most of them want to keep anonymous.
Q7. Have you ever thought about the dangers of creating political art?
I haven’t think of this problem. A lot of front-line siblings are fighting for us. I am only sitting at home and creating artworks. So, I am taking a low risk compared to them. Moreover, if I stop creating any artworks to support the movement. How can I tell others I am a Hong Konger or “yellow ribbon.” I think creating artwork is my duty, and I have not thought of whether it is dangerous or not.
Q7. What would you say to your supporters?
I think……. critical thinking is important. The message I spread out from my artworks or poster may not be suitable for everyone. So if you are my audience, please think critically! An interesting phenomenon that always happened that people blindly believe in some message from online, which has not been fact-checked. I think a good reader or audience should check the sources before they read others' artworks or posters. Some of the designer or artist did not fact-check the source before posting their design. It may cause a big problem, which is fake news. If the wrong message has been spread out, it is hard to tell people to alert of fake news. As an artist or news creator, I have a responsibility to make sure everything is correct before posting it.