M5D2: Communicating Social Justice Issues Through the Arts

In this discussion, we will explore how art is used to further social change. Please read the article by Jennifer Miles and Laura Dawson, The Art of Social Justice (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and conduct additional topical research into one of the art forms mentioned: poetry, graffiti, memory boxes (searching for “memory boxes and social justice,” for instance, on the Internet) and make a post as follows: Choose one issue that the art form is used to highlight and discuss how it achieves that end. Share a link to a website where others can read more. How does the act of creation and public display work together to address the particular social justice issue? What have been/do you see as the sociopolitical effects of the work you have identified? What about the work of Eduardo Valadez and Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak (interviewed in the Dawson and Miles article)? How might this make a personal and social impact? Do you believe art can effect change? Why/why not?