This is part of a series on nonviolent protest methods, which explains approaches and provides inspirational examples from history. For additional resources, please explore the Museum of Protest’s activist guides and view items in the collection.

Writing protest messages in the sky and on the ground represents one of the most visually striking forms of nonviolent resistance ever devised. These methods transform the heavens above and the earth below into canvases for dissent, creating messages that bypass traditional gatekeepers and speak directly to mass audiences.

Gene Sharp classified skywriting and earthwriting as a single method in his influential framework of 198 methods of nonviolent action, recognizing their shared function: communicating with a wider audience through spectacular, hard-to-censor visual displays. From a peace symbol traced above Boston Common during the Vietnam War to millions of people forming a 675-kilometer human chain across the Baltic states in 1989, these techniques have announced resistance movements to the world and created indelible images of collective action.

Why Sharp included aerial and ground messages in his framework

Gene Sharp, the scholar whose work on nonviolent action has influenced movements worldwide, placed skywriting and earthwriting within the category of “Nonviolent Protest and Persuasion”—specifically under the subcategory of “Communications with a Wider Audience.” He recognized that these methods share a fundamental purpose with leaflets, banners, and broadcasts: they aim to communicate grievances to opponents, the general public, and fellow activists. But skywriting and earthwriting possess a unique advantage that Sharp understood well. They are extraordinarily difficult for authorities to censor, intercept, or suppress before the message reaches its audience.

Sharp’s theoretical framework rested on a profound insight: political power depends on the consent of the governed, and that consent can be withdrawn. The methods of protest and persuasion serve as the first stage in this process, raising awareness that dissent exists and cannot be silenced. Skywriting and earthwriting accomplish this with particular drama. When a message appears across the sky or emerges from thousands of human bodies arranged on a beach, it demonstrates not only opposition but also the organizational capacity of a movement. The message becomes the spectacle, and the spectacle becomes the news.

Sharp noted that while protest and persuasion methods are largely symbolic, they carry strategic weight. In open societies, they attract media attention and public sympathy. In closed societies, they can be perceived as profoundly threatening precisely because they demonstrate that authorities cannot control every visible surface. The sky itself becomes contested territory.

The mechanics of traditional skywriting for protest

Skywriting emerged as a technology in the years following World War I, when aviators discovered they could use specially equipped aircraft to emit paraffin oil vapor, which would form white smoke against the blue sky. The pilot would literally fly the shape of letters, banking and turning to create each stroke. By 1922, skywriting had been commercialized for advertising, but activists soon recognized its potential for a different kind of message.

Traditional skywriting requires a single pilot flying at altitudes between 7,000 and 15,000 feet, where winds are calmer and the writing remains visible longer. Each letter can stretch a mile wide and a mile tall. The pilot must fly the shape of each letter in reverse from the ground’s perspective, a demanding skill that requires specialized training. A short message of six to eight letters can take 10 to 15 minutes to complete, with each letter requiring 60 to 90 seconds.

The ephemeral nature of skywriting is both its limitation and its poetry. Messages typically persist for 10 to 20 minutes before dispersing, though this varies with atmospheric conditions. Wind shears can warp letters within minutes. This impermanence means timing is critical—activists must coordinate skywriting with media presence and ground events to ensure the message is captured and disseminated before it fades.

Modern skytyping, developed in 1946, uses formations of five aircraft flying in precise alignment. A computer triggers smoke emissions from each plane in a dot-matrix pattern, creating letters five miles long and over a thousand feet tall in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. This technique allows for longer, more complex messages and can produce text visible from 15 miles away.

Historic skywriting protests that shaped movements

The first major use of skywriting for political protest in the United States came during the Vietnam War era. In October 1969, as demonstrators gathered on Boston Common for one of the largest anti-war rallies of that period, an aircraft traced a giant peace symbol in the sky above them. The overhead emblem transformed individual protesters into participants in something larger than themselves, united beneath a symbol literally written in the heavens.

Skywriting’s protest potential gained renewed attention in 2008 during the Beijing Olympics torch relay. As the Olympic flame passed through Canberra, Australia, Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown commissioned skywriters to trace “FREE TIBET” above Parliament House. The message appeared just as pro-Tibet demonstrators on the ground clashed with Chinese counter-protesters, creating a layered visual statement that reached international media.

The 2016 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, became a landmark moment for political skywriting. Six aircraft spelled messages including “America is Great! Trump is Disgusting,” “Anybody But Trump,” and “Trump Loves to Hate” above the 5.5-mile parade route, where millions of viewers had gathered for the New Year’s tradition. Stan Pate, a 57-year-old from Alabama who organized the action through the We the People Foundation, told reporters: “The idea that you can hate your way to the presidency is disgusting to me.” The messages dominated social media, with video footage reaching audiences far beyond the parade spectators.

The largest skywriting protest campaign in American history unfolded in July 2020. “In Plain Sight,” organized by artists Cassils and rafa esparza, coordinated skytyping over 80 locations across the United States during Independence Day weekend. Messages targeted immigration detention centers, courthouses, and the sites of former Japanese American internment camps. The coalition included 80 artists, among them Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who contributed the message “CARE NOT CAGES” written above the Los Angeles County Jail. Other messages included “ABOLITION NOW,” “NO MORE CAMPS,” and names of individuals who had died in immigration custody. The project represented an unprecedented fusion of art, activism, and aerial technology.

Earthwriting through human formations and human chains

If skywriting uses aircraft to claim the heavens, earthwriting uses human bodies to claim the land. The most powerful form of earthwriting is the human chain—a line of people holding hands that traces a message or path across the landscape, visible from above and impossible to ignore at ground level.

The greatest human chain in history remains the Baltic Way of August 23, 1989. On the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—the secret agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that led to the occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—approximately two million people formed an unbroken chain stretching 675 kilometers across all three nations. Participants coordinated via portable radios, wore unity badges, and carried national flags that had been banned for half a century. At a designated moment, they joined hands and stood in solidarity.

The Baltic Way accomplished something that protests rarely achieve: it became a historical inflection point. Within months, the Soviet Union acknowledged the existence of the secret protocols it had denied for decades. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence. UNESCO later recognized the Baltic Way as part of the Memory of the World heritage for its historical significance. The action demonstrated that earthwriting on a sufficient scale could reshape political reality.

The model of the Baltic Way has inspired human chains worldwide. On August 23, 2019—exactly 30 years later—Hong Kong protesters formed the Hong Kong Way, a 30-mile human chain during the pro-democracy movement. Catalonia’s 2013 human chain stretched 400 kilometers with 1.6 million participants advocating for independence. The Basque country staged a 200-kilometer chain with 200,000 people in 2018. In January 2020, the Indian state of Bihar set a world record when 51.7 million people formed a chain spanning 18,000 kilometers for environmental conservation.

Beach writing and human banners as modern earthwriting

The tradition of beach writing for protest has found its American home at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, where organizer Brad Newsham has coordinated human banner events since 2007. In January of that year, approximately 1,000 peace activists lay on the sand to spell “IMPEACH!” in 100-foot-tall letters, targeting President George W. Bush over the Iraq War. Aerial photographs captured by helicopter spread through news outlets worldwide.

The technique reached its peak participation in January 2017, when between 4,600 and 5,600 people gathered at Ocean Beach to spell “RESIST!!” in response to the incoming Trump administration. Photographer Stefan Ruenzel captured the aerial image that became one of the defining visual statements of the resistance movement. The photograph circulated on social media, appeared in news coverage, and was printed on t-shirts and protest signs.

Beach earthwriting has continued to evolve. In May 2025, artist Andres Amador, known for his ephemeral “earthscape” works created by raking patterns in sand, collaborated with the advocacy group Indivisible to create the message “UNITED WE ACT FOR DEMOCRACY” on Ocean Beach. The “No Kings” campaign has staged multiple beach banner events in 2025, with participants forming letters visible from above to protest authoritarian tendencies in American politics.

International beach writing has also proliferated. In the United Kingdom, sand artist Fred Brown created “Trans Rights are Human Rights” on Scarborough beach in 2025, using rakes to etch letters spanning a large section of the shoreline. In Gaza, Palestinian sculptors have created sand art on beaches as a form of expression and resistance, using tape measures to carve letters and figures into the sand during wartime.

Street murals as permanent earthwriting

The summer of 2020 introduced a new form of earthwriting that combined the visibility of traditional ground messages with the permanence of public art. On June 5, 2020, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, eight local artists worked with the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Works to paint “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in 35-foot-tall yellow letters spanning 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C.—the road leading directly to the White House. The message was visible from satellites.

Mayor Muriel Bowser renamed the section of street “Black Lives Matter Plaza,” and within weeks, more than 150 cities worldwide had created similar murals. Seattle’s Capitol Hill district created a block-long mural with 19-foot letters, each painted by a different Black artist, which was made permanent in September 2020. Charlotte, North Carolina, completed its mural in just nine hours with 22 artists. Indianapolis, Toronto, Denver, Rochester, and even Brunswick in Victoria, Australia, followed with their own street-level earthwriting.

These murals represented something new in the history of earthwriting: official sanction. Unlike banners or human formations that exist temporarily, street murals were painted with city approval and, in some cases, became permanent infrastructure. The tactic transformed earthwriting from protest into proclamation, from disruption into declaration.

Greenpeace banner actions and bridge blockades

Greenpeace has refined the art of large-scale banner deployment into a specialized form of earthwriting and aerial messaging. The organization’s activists regularly climb structures to display massive banners visible from great distances, combining the visibility of skywriting with the physical presence of ground protest.

In January 2017, just five days after President Trump’s inauguration, seven Greenpeace activists climbed a construction crane near the White House and unfurled a massive “RESIST” banner in yellow and orange, creating an image that dominated news coverage. In July 2020, activists scaled a crane at the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral reconstruction site, reaching 80 meters to deploy a banner reading “Climat: aux actes!” (Climate: act now!) to pressure President Macron on climate policy.

The organization’s bridge blockades represent another evolution of earthwriting. In July 2015, 13 Greenpeace climbers descended from Portland’s St. Johns Bridge to create an aerial blockade intended to stop a Shell icebreaker from departing for Arctic drilling. The climbers suspended themselves from ropes for 40 hours, creating a wall of bodies and banners that physically blocked the vessel. A court imposed fines of $2,500 per hour against the protesters, but the action generated global media coverage and crystallized opposition to Arctic drilling.

Laser pointers and light-based skywriting

Technology has expanded the possibilities for aerial and visual protest messaging far beyond smoke and paint. During Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, demonstrators discovered that coordinated laser pointer use could confuse police officers, scramble facial recognition cameras, and create brilliant visual displays. When a student was arrested for purchasing laser pointers, protesters responded with a “stargazing protest” at the Hong Kong Space Museum, where they demonstrated the devices’ legitimate uses while turning them into symbols of resistance.

In Chile the same year, protesters found that concentrated laser light could interfere with police drone infrared sensors and cameras, actually forcing drones to land. A viral video showed dozens of green laser beams converging on a hovering drone until it descended uncontrollably.

Guerrilla projection has emerged as a form of urban skywriting that uses buildings as canvases. Artist Mark Read pioneered the technique during Occupy Wall Street in 2011, projecting “99%” onto New York City’s Verizon building in what became known as the “Bat-Signal” action. He later founded The Illuminator, an activist art collective specializing in projection. After the 2017 Charlottesville violence, artist Robin Bell projected “WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE TO STAND UP AND END WHITE SUPREMACY” onto the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Projection activism exploits legal ambiguities. Courts have generally ruled that because projections cause no physical damage and are temporary, they are protected speech. However, some jurisdictions have begun passing laws to restrict the practice, creating new legal battlegrounds for this digital form of earthwriting.

Drone light shows as the future of aerial messaging

The most significant technological evolution of skywriting may be the emergence of drone light shows. First demonstrated in Cannes in 2012, drone formations have rapidly advanced in capability. Modern shows use between 100 and 6,000 drones, each equipped with LED lights, flying in GPS-controlled formations to create images, text, and animations visible from a five-kilometer radius.

Unlike traditional skywriting, drone shows produce no emissions, can be repeated indefinitely, and can display messages of unlimited complexity, including portraits, QR codes, and animated sequences. The technology has primarily been used for commercial entertainment and civic celebrations, but its potential for protest messaging is obvious. Activists have discussed repurposing drone swarm technology for vigils and demonstrations, though costs ranging from $10,000 to $300,000 currently limit accessibility.

The combination of drone shows with augmented reality represents the cutting edge of aerial messaging. The 2020 “In Plain Sight” campaign created a companion app allowing users to view AR skywriting on their smartphones, extending the life of physical smoke messages into the digital realm. As the physical message dissipated, its digital counterpart persisted, shareable and viewable from any location.

Practical considerations for organizing aerial and ground protests

Organizing skywriting protests requires significant resources and planning. Traditional skywriting costs start at approximately $4,000 to $5,000 for a short message, while skytyping with multiple aircraft is considerably more expensive. The “In Plain Sight” campaign used three fleets of planes across 80 locations, requiring substantial fundraising and coordination. Crowdfunding platforms have become essential tools, with campaigns for skywriting protests regularly raising thousands of dollars from small donors.

Weather dependency represents a major tactical consideration. Skywriting requires clear skies and calm winds; messages can be distorted or dissipated within minutes under unfavorable conditions. Organizers must prepare backup plans and be willing to postpone actions. Coordination with ground events and media is critical—a skywritten message that no one captures on camera or video has limited impact in the age of social media amplification.

Human banner and beach writing events require different resources: large numbers of committed participants, aerial photography arrangements, and careful logistical planning. Organizers at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach typically pre-mark letter positions in the sand before participants arrive, use color-coded clothing assignments for different letters, and coordinate with helicopter or drone photographers for specific timing. Tide schedules must be consulted, and participants need clear instructions for their positioning.

Street mural projects require official permits in most jurisdictions, paint and supplies, artist coordination, and traffic control. The Black Lives Matter murals of 2020 succeeded in part because municipal governments actively supported them, providing resources and protection. Independent earthwriting projects face greater legal risks and may need to operate guerrilla-style.

The evolution of effectiveness in the social media age

The fundamental equation of skywriting and earthwriting has shifted dramatically with the rise of social media. These methods were always designed to reach audiences beyond those physically present—Sharp placed them in the “Communications with a Wider Audience” category for exactly this reason. But the scale of potential amplification has increased by orders of magnitude.

When skywriters spelled anti-Trump messages above the 2016 Rose Parade, the millions of in-person spectators represented only a fraction of the ultimate audience. Video and photographs flooded Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, reaching tens of millions worldwide. The “RESIST!!” human banner at Ocean Beach in 2017 became one of the most widely shared images of the early resistance movement precisely because it was designed for aerial photography and social media distribution.

This shift has tactical implications. The physical manifestation of the protest—whether smoke in the sky or bodies on the beach—is increasingly a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The goal is to create an image compelling enough to go viral, carrying the message far beyond the physical location. This requires attention to visual composition, photographic quality, and timing for maximum social media impact.

The augmented reality component of the “In Plain Sight” campaign pointed toward future possibilities. As AR technology becomes ubiquitous, messages that exist only in digital overlay may become as powerful as physical sky or ground writing. The boundaries between aerial and digital, physical and virtual, are blurring.

Cross-cultural adaptations and variations

Skywriting and earthwriting have been adapted to local contexts worldwide, reflecting different cultural traditions and available resources. Japanese technology company Aerial Burton has developed laser systems that fire infrared pulses into air to create floating text visible in daylight—though intended for emergency signage, the technology has obvious protest applications.

In India, renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates five-foot-high sculptures at Puri Beach with messages ranging from anti-terrorism statements to environmental appeals, demonstrating how traditional artistic practices can be adapted for protest communication. The massive farmer protests of 2020-2021, documented extensively through aerial photography, used the visual language of empty fields and tractor formations to communicate agricultural communities’ grievances.

Indigenous artists across North America have developed land-based practices that function as earthwriting while also serving cultural preservation goals. Ahtna and Paiute artist Melissa Shaginoff creates repurposed wood installations with messages like “We are on Indigenous Land” and “Sustain Indigenous Knowledge,” photographed in their landscapes. Métis artist Christi Belcourt led the #Resistance150 project challenging Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations, using visual art to counter colonial narratives.

The Scottish coast near Trump’s Turnberry golf resort has become a site for protest earthwriting. In 2025, Greenpeace UK collaborated with the art collective Sand In Your Eye to create a 55-by-40-meter message reading “Time to resist—fight the billionaire takeover” on the beach within sight of the golf course, targeting both the former president and the economic concentration he represents.

Legal landscapes and regulatory responses

The legal status of skywriting and earthwriting varies significantly across jurisdictions and over time. The United Kingdom banned skywriting entirely from 1960 to 2020, partly in response to concerns about political propaganda after fascist leaflets were dropped over London before World War II. The ban was lifted only in May 2020 after industry lobbying.

In Australia, the Electoral Commission has ruled that skywriting falls outside practical regulation for electoral purposes, treating it similarly to graffiti—technically covered by electoral laws but impossible to monitor or enforce in practice. This regulatory gap was tested during the 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite, when both “Vote No” and “Vote Yes” campaigns attempted skywriting; ultimately, the skywriting company refused the “Vote Yes” commission, and supporters hired a helicopter to tow a rainbow flag over Bondi Beach instead.

American skywriting operates under Federal Aviation Administration regulations, which primarily address flight safety rather than message content. Street murals require municipal permits, creating opportunities for officially sanctioned earthwriting but also potential barriers for unsanctioned projects. Projection activism occupies legal gray zones, with courts generally protecting it as speech but some jurisdictions moving to restrict it.

Human chains and beach formations typically take place on public land and require no special permits, though coordination with local authorities may be advisable for large-scale events. The legal simplicity of these methods, combined with their visual power, helps explain their continued popularity.

Strategic integration with broader campaign tactics

Sharp understood that no single method of nonviolent action operates in isolation. Skywriting and earthwriting are most effective when integrated with broader campaigns that include multiple tactics, sustained organizing, and clear demands. The “In Plain Sight” campaign succeeded not only because of its dramatic skywriting but because it was embedded within a larger network of immigration advocacy organizations, accompanied by an interactive website, augmented reality app, and ongoing programming.

The Baltic Way’s impact derived not just from its unprecedented scale but from its timing—the 50th anniversary of a historical grievance—and its integration with ongoing independence movements that had been building momentum for years. The human chain was the spectacular culmination of sustained organizing, not a substitute for it.

For contemporary activists considering skywriting or earthwriting, the strategic question is how these methods fit within a larger theory of change. Raising awareness is necessary but rarely sufficient; protest and persuasion must be connected to ongoing organizing, escalating tactics, and concrete demands. The visual power of messages in the sky or on the ground can attract attention and inspire participation, but building power requires the unglamorous work that happens before and after the spectacular moment.

These methods excel at certain strategic functions: demonstrating that dissent exists and is widespread, creating shareable images that extend a movement’s reach, and generating media coverage that advances public education. They are less well-suited to applying direct pressure or building sustained power. The most effective campaigns use skywriting and earthwriting as components within a diverse tactical repertoire, not as standalone actions.

Tactical advantages and limitations

Skywriting and earthwriting share several tactical advantages that explain their enduring appeal. They are extremely difficult to censor or suppress before the message reaches its audience—by the time authorities are aware of the action, the message has already been seen. They demonstrate organizational capacity, showing that a movement can coordinate complex logistics and mobilize significant resources. They create visual spectacles that are inherently newsworthy, generating media coverage that amplifies the message beyond those physically present.

The methods also have important limitations. Skywriting is expensive, requires specialized contractors, and depends on favorable weather. Its ephemeral nature means the message exists for only minutes unless captured on camera or video. Human formations require large numbers of committed participants who can be present at a specific time and place. Street murals require official approval in most cases or carry legal risks if undertaken without permission.

Perhaps most significantly, these methods are better at creating moments than building movements. A spectacular aerial message or human banner can inspire, attract attention, and generate conversation, but it cannot substitute for the sustained organizing work that builds power over time. The tactical sophistication of these methods must be matched by strategic sophistication about how they fit within longer-term campaigns for change.

For movements considering skywriting or earthwriting, the key questions are: What audience are we trying to reach? What message will resonate with that audience? How does this action fit within our broader strategy? What capacity do we have for follow-up? And how will we capture and amplify the visual material this action creates? Answered well, these methods can produce images and moments that define eras. Used without strategic clarity, they risk becoming isolated spectacles that generate momentary attention but no lasting change.

The sky and the earth have served as canvases for human expression since prehistoric times. From the earliest cave paintings to the geoglyphs of Nazca to modern laser projections, humans have sought to inscribe their messages on the largest possible surfaces. The nonviolent applications of this impulse—skywriting and earthwriting for protest—represent a distinctive tradition within the broader history of resistance, one that continues to evolve with new technologies and new movements determined to make their voices impossible to ignore.