[1] Use of the umbrella – an everyday item that protects users against the rain and the sun – by the protesters to deflect pepper spray and tear gas of the police,[2] has given the object iconic status at a political level, symbolising resistance and the underlying social grievances.
In the context of the Hong Kong protests, it has been used to shield against the pepper spray and tear gas of the police, thus has become a political symbol of resistance.
[8][9][13] Colette Gaiter, an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Delaware, praised the quality of the artwork as possessing "an elevated aesthetic sensibility even in the ubiquitous handwritten signs and Post-it notes".
[4] Kacey Wong, Assistant professor of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University held a contest for the best logo, and received entries from all over the world.
[20][23][24][25][26][27] Dozens of supporters arrived at Hong Kong International Airport with yellow umbrellas to send off the HKFS delegation that was set to fly to Beijing on 15 November.
The tune and original lyrics were written by a 25-year-old part-time musician Pan Lo (羅曉彬) after he witnessed first hand the release of tear gas by the police.
Ho then enlisted the support of other artistes, Anthony Wong, Kay Tse and Deanie Ip to record the song with her after Lin Xi had reworked the lyrics.
[41][42] In a maiden political offering, David Cheang wrote deriding people who ignorantly or blindly opposed the Umbrella movement.
The song lyrics start off from the perspective of a person who is fed up with the futility and inconvenience of the occupation, and then moves on to the viewpoint of another, who criticises his "friend" for polluting the earth with his bullshit.
[24] Eight hours after the creation of "Mr 689" – the nickname of Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung, Ip's personal Facebook page of the character had more than 3,000 shares.
[51][52][53][54] Apple Daily reports that there are at least 13 cardboard cut-outs of general secretary Xi Jinping in Mong Kok, three in Causeway Bay, and one huge vertical banner depicting the image hanging from the pedestrian bridge in Admiralty.
[56] The inspiration for the woodblock statue, symbolising freedom and peace, was a photograph of a suffragist holding an umbrella over a police officer to shield him from the rain.
[60] The Lennon Wall, a namesake of the one in Prague, is a stretch of curved staircase in the Central Government Complex that has been covered in multi-coloured handwritten post-it notes from supporters.
[10][11][58] The messages, written mainly in Chinese and English but also other languages, include calls for genuine democracy, for CY Leung to step down as Chief executive, words of encouragement, and praise for the peacefulness of the protests.
[61] An art collective called "Stand By You: 'Add Oil' Machine" launched a project that aimed to display messages of support to protesters.
[64][65] Marking the expansion phase of the protest movement, a group of suffragists scaled the Lion Rock, an iconic natural landmark overlooking Kowloon that carries the meaning as Hong Kong's special identity[66][67][68][69] The group of 14 mountaineers calling themselves "Hong Kong Spidie" (香港蜘蛛仔) pinned a vertical 28 by 6 metres (92 by 20 ft) banner to the rock face that was visible throughout much of Kowloon.
[69][74] The banner, which read "I want real universal suffrage" (in Chinese), was removed the following day by fire services aided by a helicopter in an action that took approximately 1+1⁄2 hours.
[76] A 9-metre (30 ft) horizontal banner was put up under cover of darkness near the radar station for the observatory at Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong's highest peak.
[68][78][79] A professor at the Polytechnic University's Department of Applied Mathematics set an examination question on how to calculate the position and angle for an optimum photograph of the Lion Rock banner.
[81] The existence of homophones in Chinese language allows great potential for wordplay that replacing characters with similar tones, or pitch patterns can effect significant changes in meaning.
Critics believe the ban is aimed at making it illegal to criticise the leadership and/or its policies in veiled manner, whilst avoiding censorship.
[88] It has been re-tweeted thousands of times along with multiple similar photographs tweeted during the protest,[89] which show individuals using umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas and water.
The Umbrella Movement Visual Archive and Research Collective, founded by Wen Yau and Sampson Wong, aims to document "how people form a community here, and how they transform the space".
[8][59] The group is co-operating with Umbrella Movement Art Preservation, led by Meaghan McGurgan and Kacey Wong, which has made an inventory of works and their location, and will grab certain pieces before the police clear the site.
[92] The day prior to the announced clearance of the Admiralty occupation site, 30 volunteers from the art preservation unit started salvage operations.
[93] Pieces include a desk, bench, and the sign for the study area, banners, and over 20,000 messages from the Lennon Wall, which had been covered four layers deep and eventually filled 10 large bags.