Protest Art Analysis Essay

Poverty doesnt only include people who are homeless, starved, or

poor, it also includes people who have a job and house but dont have
enough income. People are expected to lead a life with $7.25 an hour.
According to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau poverty line is a family of 4, 2
adults and 2 children under 18 that earns less than $23,021. A lot of people
dont have a good job that pays a good money for a lot of reasons. As we all
know one thing is they didnt finish their education but there are other ways
to see it. Single mothers or single fathers move from country to another
country and they realize that its too late for them to continue their
education because theyve got children to take care of. So they end up
working as a housekeeping, cashier, truck drivers, and others. In 2012, 46.5
million people lived in poverty in America. This means the poverty rate for
2012 was 15%. In 2011, nearly 46.7 million Americans were living in poverty.
There isnt much of a poverty decrease as the time goes on. People who live
in poverty dont only affect themselves, they also affect their children. 32%
students a year drop out of school for reasons like to work and increase the
chance of making more money in their family. Not only that students are
dropping out of school because they have to work, parents cant afford to
send their kids to college and give them the education they werent able to
get. Protest art and song are traditional common ways that people use to
transport a message to the government or to whom it may concern. In the
protest art graffiti of poverty, one artist created a message that people are
suffering due to poverty through the use of symbolism, color, and caption.
One of the ways that this artist transfer the message is with
symbolism. The art contains a man writing end poverty with a spray. This
man has a sad face wearing a black shirt that has an African globe on it. This
man represent those people who are living in poverty in Africa. The fact that
the man has an African globe at the back of his shirt with a 2025 written on
it, its clear to the viewer that African Poverty is expected to end by the time
we get to 2025. Another symbol, the African globe is made in light yellow
and green. This colors represent countries in Africa with a flag that has green
or yellow in it, that has a higher poverty rate. This countries include Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Togo, Mali, Kenya, and others. Compared to the other
countries Africa has 38% of poverty rate. The cause of these countries in
Africa with high poverty rate is because of the government. The government
has a complete control or power of the country. And people make as little as
$250 a month. People arent able to afford a safe house, a food to eat, or a
safe water to drink. Lastly, the artist put fingers on top of the African globe.
This clearly shows that in order to end poverty or at least reduce it, is to lend
a hand. It shows that if people come together to help out the goal can be

accomplished. These days no body tries to help as long as it doesnt affect

them. Well who is going to help them if it doesnt affect nobody else? The
artist used these symbols to create the message.
Color is another way the artist used to create message. The art has a
title written End Poverty on top of it. This title is colored red. This red color
represent blood. Blood is usually means death. Its trying to say that people
are dying, starving, and dont have anybody to turn to. There are 100 million
homeless people. If those people were helped or taken care of, who knows
how they couldve changed the world or more specific Africa. The artist didnt
put a lot of colors in the art, which means that most of it is black and white.
Colors show happiness, black and white show darkness. People who live in
poverty dont see a bright future ahead of them. They dont even know if
they are going to live to see tomorrow. The man who is writing on the wall is
dressed in black too. People below the poverty line dont have enough
money to choose what to wear. All of this information is conveyed in the
graffiti through the use of colors.
Another way the artist used to create message is caption. The art has a
written title that says end poverty. This shows that even thou people in
different countries in the world are dying out of poverty, the government
isnt trying to do anything to help. People who work at a stressful and
challenging job gets paid less than the people who sits around in an office.
Nearly of the worlds population that is more than 3 billion people live on
less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty. That is
less than $1.5 a day. Those people work at a job that requires strength, and
hard work. It doesnt take long till they develop knee pain, joint pain,
backache. Well the title speaks for all of this and says to end it. Because
once poverty ends so does childrens death. According to UNICEF, 22,000
children dies each day due to poverty. The whole point of the title is for
people to earn what they work for. They work as hard as they can that it
starts to affect their health but dont get enough to cure themselves. If one
employees income was raised, they are not the only one whos being
helped, its their children too. Because those kids are the future. If this
generation fades away dying who is going to live for tomorrow? The title of
the protest art says end poverty and kids will live.
Adults, children, elders, youth people die every day due to poverty.
Those people cannot do anything but protest about it. In the protest art
graffiti an artist conveys a message through symbolism. A man with sad and
desperate face represented those people out there dying due to poverty. An
African globe at the back of the mans shirt represent the higher poverty rate
in Africa. The colors that the African globe has are light yellow and green.
These represent the flag of African countries who are suffering due to

poverty. The artist also used colors to create a message, colors like red
meaning people dying. Black and white was the major color of the art. This
clearly states that people living in poverty dont see different colors meaning
they dont have a lot of options in life. They dont choose what to eat,
because they dont have anything to eat, and they dont choose what to
wear, because theyve got nothing to wear. Last method the artist used is
caption. The title speaks for itself end poverty. This states that people
want it to end because they are starving, dying and yet nobody is trying to
stop it. They are paying for something they never did. Children are dropping
out of school because they get caught up in work to make money that their
parents couldnt. Parents cannot afford paying for school for their childrens
because they can barely afford the food they eat, they water they drink, and
they cloth they wear. So lets help those in need because the next people
who will live in poverty might be us.
Work Cited Page

"11 Facts About Global Poverty." 11 Facts About Global Poverty. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb.
2015.

"A Roof Is Not Enough - a Look at Homelessness Worldwide, by Monte Leach, Share
International Archives." A Roof Is Not Enough - a Look at Homelessness Worldwide, by
Monte Leach, Share International Archives. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2015.

"Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts." Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb.
2015.