Feminist visual semiotic analysis of protest art at Aurat March in Pakistan

Anwar, Zainab (2023) Feminist visual semiotic analysis of protest art at Aurat March in Pakistan. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

My thesis involves a feminist visual semiotic analysis to look at the protest art from Aurat March in Pakistan. I look mainly at the protest posters but also include a few examples of street art to give a holistic overview of the marches. In my research I have looked at posters published on online social media accounts of Aurat March and images of posters or protest art from the offline physical protest that are present online. My analysis of the posters and street art includes discussion of the three semiotic signs: symbolic, iconic, and indexical, to focus on the messages and the impact of the protest art and bring light to specific issues in relation to Gender-based violence, Women’s labor, Women’s health, and Freedoms and Justice in Pakistan. I talk about posters in each chapter individually and talk about how they work together to present the issues impacting the lives of Pakistani people. Lastly, I explain why posters and street art from Aurat March are radical and different than posters in other social or political movements in Pakistan.

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