Normalizing Isolation – Visual Strategies in the Brexit Debate

One of the results of the Brexit dispute was a normalization of expressing far right values and statements in public debate and politics. The negotiations about Brexit have resembled a culture war, in which different understandings of home, belonging and identity have been negotiated. In this context, carriers of emotion such as audiovisual images have played a central political role that has not been explored yet. Further questions are given rise to by new dividing lines within the European and British cultural scene: While artists like Wolfgang Tillmans have mobilized creatives to transnationally campaign against Brexit in a participatory on- and offline campaign, a collective called “Brexit Creatives” has organized gatherings advocating the “Festival of Brexit Britain” suggested by Theresa May – to name just two out of many examples of a remarkable involvement of artists and creatives in the referendum campaigns and the reactions to its outcome. In times of identity politics, the lines between art and politics more and more often seem to blur. Not only do artists interfere in the political realm and actively contribute to hegemonic struggles (Mouffe & Laclau, 1985), but also politicians engage in strategic image politics. Some examples are Nigel Farage posing in front of UKIP's controversial "breaking point" anti-EU poster showing a queue of refugees, the use of the iconic Brexit bus by the Leave campaign or Boris Johnson adapting a famous scene from the British Christmas Movie “Love actually” as his 2019 election broadcast. This paper analyzes how creative engagement, strategic image-making and the prominent use of cultural references have contributed to a normalization of right-wing values in the Brexit dispute. To do so, I analyze diverse forms of creative engagement from the referendum campaigns to the actual exit of Great Britain from the European Union, focusing on the strategies of the Leave camp. The aim is to examine the different ways in which images and pop-cultural references have been used, circulated and reacted to by the public. A specific focus is put on the strategy of sarcasm and humor, as they play a pivotal role in British (political) culture, as well as on the roles of ambiguity, manipulation and fake. In the second part of my paper, I compare the visual strategies employed by the Leave camp and its supporters with selected examples from the Remain camp. I thereby aim to develop a contribution to the normative discussion about the autonomy of art, shedding light on the difference between the political instrumentalization of art and images as opposed to the emerging phenomenon of artistic activism – a distinction that has not become very clear in previous research and theory. The paper relies on methods of discourse and image analysis, as well as a theoretical body of hegemony theory, art theory and cultural studies.