This presentation engages with how Japanese media flows became part of the visual culture of the protest movements in Hong Kong, Thailand and Myanmar between 2019 and 2021. These separate large-scale protests were connected together through an online pro-democracy group called the Milk Tea Alliance which was formed in 2020. The artworks studied in this presentation show digital protest artworks created as instruments of dissent and exhibiting the aesthetics of Japanese Manga and Anime. These images transcend local language and cultural codes, creating a series of visual signs that speak to broader themes of liberty, democratic values and solidarity. The circulation of these images within movement networks is possible due to the platform affordances of certain social media platforms. This presentation will examine one digital protest artwork from each of these three social movements and seek to understand how these aesthetics were used tactically in support of the pro-democracy causes inside each society. I will deploy scholar Nicole Doerr’s content analysis techniques for studying movement visuals to uncover semiotic and iconographic similarities between these images. I will examine how artists from these three societies were able to weave in local vernacular references within the container of anime and manga visual content. This pragmatic use of Manga and Anime properties shows a sophisticated understanding of how visual culture is able to create powerful emotional identification for social movement participants and allies internationally.

Authors:
Martyn Coutts, The University of Melbourne, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Martyn Coutts' art projects have been shown extensively throughout Australia and internationally in Taiwan, China, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Netherlands, UK, US and Canada.

Connect on Linkedin
https://au.linkedin.com/in/martyncoutts

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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