Photos: The colorful world of Hong Kong’s protest art

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While there were signs on Monday that Hong Kong's protests might be coming to a low ebb, their visual impact looks likely to last for a while.

"This is the most well-designed protest in recent memory," says Colette Gaiter, an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Delaware who has done extensive research on protest art.

"Unlike the U.S. Occupy movement three years ago -- which featured rough hand lettered signs on torn cardboard representing the grass-roots nature of the protests and economic status of the protesters -- the Hong Kong protests have attracted professional designers," Gaiter explains. "There is an elevated aesthetic sensibility even in the ubiquitous handwritten signs and Post-it notes."

Art can be seen all over the protests. Outside Hong Kong's government offices, for instance, protesters created a wall full of Post-it notes.

Some of the colorful messages simply read "I love Hong Kong." Others depict sketched umbrellas which have become the symbol of the revolution.

As my colleague Adam Taylor explained last week, "any visitor to Hong Kong will tell you that umbrellas are already a fixture of life in the city, essential not only for keeping yourself dry during the rainy spring and summer but also providing much-needed shade from the sun."

Throughout the protests, however, the umbrella became a political symbol -- and many have interpreted its use as metaphoric for the protesters' fight against the state security apparatus. "The umbrella serves as an appropriate metaphor for the nature of the protests, which is calm, determined, and defensive. Umbrellas could easily be turned into a weapon, but they are shown as open and benign," says Gaiter.

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