In general, when people hear the word art, they envision an artist painting on a canvas. Likewise, when people hear the word activism, they imagine loud protest in the streets. If the two words are put together, we have a topic that society knows little about. Art activism has been a silent but powerful voice for countless political clashes, human rights, animal rights, and social change throughout the years. It has taught tolerance and compassion towards countless issues the general public chooses to turn a blind eye to. As a result, this form of activism has opened the door for activist to reach their targeted audience in a more creative nature and through a multitude of creative expressions. Art has a knack for drawing attention; this is why activists use it as a way to strengthen community awareness. Take my own experience; my occupation is in the Early Childhood Education field. Early childhood educators and …show more content…
Dan teamed up with a worldwide human rights organization called Amnesty International with a campaign called “Wailing Walls” to bring attention to prisoners who are locked away and hidden because of their political views. The campaign uses eight photorealism images that Dan created and social media to expose the injustice. Each image is a prisoner locked away; some are blindfolded, leaning on a prison cell door and others show fingers reaching through the tiny holes of a prison cell. The images are compelling. Iin addition, the images become a part of social media with a QR code and a phone app to learn more about each person represented in the piece. People can instantly leave a message for government officials on the wall to protest the imprisonment of the individual they are viewing. As a result, the art campaign has become a voice for the prisoners who have been silenced behind prison
Rhys Southan’s essay “Is Art a Waste of Time?” is about art and if it can really help people who are suffering or is it just better to hand over your money. In Yo-Yo Ma’s essay “necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education” he focuses more on art being used as educational purposes to essentially create more innovative/empathetic people. Instead of focusing so much on STEM, the author states that we should incorporate art too. Although some people might say art does not play a role in making the world a better place. I believe it can by bringing awareness to different social issues. Also, if we incorporate art at a young age it can teach kids to be open minded and happier people.
What is art and how is it used as a tool for communication? These multifaceted questions are answered by analyzing ancient and modern art. In the article “When Art Loses Its Sting: The evolution of Protest Art in Authoritarian Contexts” Jacqueline Adams explains how art captures the interest of sociologists. Art executes a unique duality in society. In both recent and ancient history, art has been used as propaganda. Now, contemporary art works to challenge or protest ideologies. Analyzing art provides an interesting insight: the art of today holds as much influence as it did in history. Art has not “lost its sting,” but rather gained a phenomenal impact.
People can have many different opinions depending on a topic, but what is truly difficult is getting a complete level of understanding from every opinion, or understanding the point of view of each opinion. Even accepting the points of view can be difficult for some people, who believe that their opinions are right. Luckily, people can learn about the other person’s frame of reference, and at the very least understand the topic or the person a little better. This particular topic is art, which is known for its multiple possible perceptions or its many different messages that it can send a person or group of people. In this way, people can learn more about the thought processes and feelings of others. Unfortunately, with differing opinions,
I’ve always been a fan of art and activism. Together, both create a powerful voice that builds community and initiates change. Even through my years of activism through writing, I love discovering other ways voices of marginalized people are heard using artistic expression.
Jane Golden demonstrates the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Mural Art Program that has changed the appearance of the city in a positive way and that gives people a way to embrace how they feel. While Harriet F. Senie in Reframing Public Art and is stating that most public art is being ignored by people and is slipping away into urban-scape. Public art is often ignored art, we don’t know how those pieces of art are actually successful. Public art such as sculptures
In just this year alone, American society has been divided by political views that have affected our common sense. Destroying property and disobeying laws has been a way people use to revolt against their political views. An alternative to ruining art could be moving it, and unless the state where the artwork is located allows it, art should not be taken down or vandalized. If the artwork is handled lawfully, then it would be appropriate to move the artwork and this way it is not promoting hate or illegal acts. It is understandable why someone might become offended by artwork that is contradicting to their culture and values. Sometimes the phenomenology of a piece of artwork can impact the effect it has on a person. If a statute makes you feel inferior, you might feel critical towards it. However, destroying the piece is not a good way to handle the situation because it doesn’t show a moral or lawful way of resolving the conflict. Instead, when someone destroys artwork, it just causes more hate to develop and grow, instead of handling the situation peacefully. Overall, if our collective culture used peaceful protest, it would be more effective and moral, because no illegal acts or emotionally driven consequences will destroy
There seems to be the overarching idea of whether an artist should focus on creating their own work, or if they should use their work to aid their surrounding community in some way. At times, using art for social activism can cause controversy. It may be that the artist could never depict perfect activism in their art, and that it may never please every viewer. However, it may not be that all art as activism should be avoided. If there were none of these works, critical conversations may have never begun. In fact, it might be good that this style of art does not please everyone. If this is the case, then those who view the art are more likely to talk about the subject at hand instead of going about their day and ignoring the problem at
This chapter examines two forms of practice that communicate messages from a group or an individual to the public, cultural production and political public speaking in the light of Marxist cultural theories. The review of writings about the practice of art by mid-20th century Marxist thinkers makes one thing clear - aesthetic utterances by artists and cultural figures fulfil a role in the political and social discourse and the importance of this role within the context of class struggle must not be ignored. The role of aesthetics as viewed by Marxist theorists such as Adorno and Horkheimer is to educate and inspire the public to live a life more worthy of living. (Adorno, 2006, p. 39) This chapter argues that cultural practitioners have a responsibility to encourage the public to confront their social and political conflicts.
In today’s society anything can be considered “Art”. From the great sounds of a symphony, to the architecture of a modern structure, or even an elephant painting with its trunk, art is what the viewer perceives it to be. Individuals will always agree or disagree with the message behind a certain piece of art, as pieces can be offensive to some, but beautiful to others. Some argue that funding the arts in school is a waste of money, time, or a combination of both, but the benefits outweigh the negatives by far, due to a variety of reasons.
Activism comes in all shapes and sizes, and when someone does it in an unusual way it cannot go unnoticed. Banksy’s “The Flower Thrower” is a perfect example of this due to the fact that it’s vandalism with a deeper meaning. The man known as Banksy is a graffiti artist and a political activist, and the most intriguing thing about him is that he chooses to remain anonymous. There are many theories about his identity, one even claiming that he is a fictional character. Despite proof of his identity, several countries are on the look out for him. Many have even issued warrants for his arrest because his public works are considered vandalism. His paintings are known for making people question their everyday lives and really
Visual arts play an important role in one’s life. Researches show that kids growing up in an aesthetic environment develop far better than kids growing up without it (Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 30, No.4, Summer 2003). Growing up in an artistic family, I am personally compelled to the visual arts. I want to create a program called the Sunday Youth Visual Art Program to create a better community environment that fosters the education of the arts. I find that Columbus, a mid-size city, has the perfect social environment for my program to thrive. Columbus is a school-centered city, and there are needs for the youth programs. Based on my assessment of the city, the goal of my program is to influence, inspire, and foster the growth of the youth in the Columbus community.
It is a selfless act of trying to improve where we live with nothing expected in return, the least people could do is respect it. Moreover, artists like Banksy make an effort to put across a political message. Banksy is a famous London street artist whose identity still remains a mystery. Article 10 of the Human Rights states, “the freedom of expression”, these include the forms of “political expression, artistic expression and commercial expression”. Street art evidently appears under this right, however, it is shockingly not accepted by all. There is no element of selfishness found in street art, yet people seem to have an inherent dislike to the subject. If there was no street art around us, imagine how dull our cites would be. In addition to this, street art holds many more advantages on top of
Protest art can be seen as a mirror or guide of social change. Protest art during Apartheid, the Cold War and for animal rights does not only state a problem but it gives society a reason of solution. Thus protest art has proven to be socially effective.
Art was once thought to be an outlet from the mundane, boring and apparently meaningless lives we live in. Artists used art to intentionally bring the viewers into an external world, to present an experience they would not get in their everyday lives. With contemporary art, this has changed significantly. Contemporary Art now plays a significant role in cultural politics.
Art triggers emotions, and all human beings share the same hormones, which is why they have identical emotions. This creates a medium of communication that everyone can use and understand. No language, culture, age, or gender is a barrier. As part of my community-service experience, I visited Zanzibar with a volunteer group. My favorite project from that trip was painting a school wall with a diverse group of impoverished Africans. Throughout the entire experience, that was the first time I felt connected to them. We would usually read simple stories to African children, teach them simple math, or play simple sports with them. The gap between us and the African children was always there; we always felt different and it was extremely difficult to conduct conversation, because only a small portion of them would understand what we were trying to say. With painting the wall, however, no one found any difficulty with communicating. When we were done, I stood back to contemplate the art and noticed Sefu standing next to me, we both gave each other a look of satisfaction without saying anything. Mette Holme Ingeberg, Britt-Maj Wikstrøm, and Arild Berg (2012) studied the effect of art on communication in a hospital setting. Their study focused on how the use of art stimulated conversations between the nurses and the patients. They found out that “art can reveal stories from patients’ lives that staff otherwise may not have been able to access,”