Social justice art, and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

s for social justice, encompasses a wide range of visual and

performing art The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfor ...

that aim to raise

critical consciousness Critical consciousness, conscientization, or in Portuguese, is a popular education and social concept developed by Brazilian pedagogue and educational theorist Paulo Freire, grounded in post-Marxist critical theory. Critical consciousness focu ...

, build community, and motivate individuals to promote

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or socio ...

. Art has been used as a means to record history, shape culture, cultivate imagination, and harness individual and

social transformation In sociology, social transformation is a somewhat ambiguous term that has two broad definitions. One definition of social transformation is the process by which an individual ''alters'' the socially ascribed social status of their parents into a ...

. It can not only be a means to generate awareness, but it can also be a catalyst to engage community members to take action around a social issue. Social justice art allows people to develop agency to interrupt and alter oppressive systemic patterns or individual behaviors. The processes by which people create and engage with art equips them with analytic tools to understand and challenge social injustices through social justice education (teaching for social justice),

community building Community building is a field of practices directed toward the creation or enhancement of community among individuals within a regional area (such as a neighborhood) or with a common need or interest. It is often encompassed under the fields of c ...

, and social activism/

social movements A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and ma ...

. Examples of visual and performing social justice art includes: drawing,

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, murals,

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

, film,

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

, dance,

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

, etc.

Background

Art has played a role in social justice education, community building, and social activism/ social movements. It provides a universal language that gives voice to individuals and communities and is accessible across social boundaries. These examples can overlap and are not strictly confined to one specific category.

History

Two well-known

art movements An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defi ...

that have utilized art as a means to work towards social justice are the Black Arts Movement and

Chicano art movement The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement ( ...

. Both movements began to enter into public consciousness during the 1960s. The

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

in combination with the Black Power Movement helped to propel the Black Arts Movement. One of the main goals of this movement was to support

Black Nationalism Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...

and mobilize the community towards

social action In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ...

. This period produced an increase in Black poetry,

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, and

. A few key figures of the movement were; author

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

, author and artist Charles S. Johnson, revolutionary artist

Emory Douglas Emory Douglas (born May 24, 1943) is an American graphic artist. He was a member of the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s. As a r''evolutionary artist'' and the ''Minister of Culture'' for the Black Panther Pa ...

, and social dancer and choreographer Katrina Hazzard-Gordon. The efforts to incorporate post- Mexican Revolution notions with current Mexican American social, political, and cultural issues drove the Chicana/Chicano Arts Movement. Murals are a form of

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

that experienced a rise in popularity during this movement. Chicana/Chicano mural art became a means of working towards political goals, challenging stereotypes, as well as a way for community members to play an active role in creating community

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

was one prominent figure who helped to establish Mexican muralism. Diego Rivera - Detroit Industry Murals

Social justice education

Social justice education is an educational approach that focuses on fostering awareness of social injustices and how

inequalities Inequality may refer to: Economics * Attention inequality, unequal distribution of attention across users, groups of people, issues in etc. in attention economy * Economic inequality, difference in economic well-being between population groups * ...

impact youth. Social justice education saw its roots in the ideas of

Paulo Freire Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (19 September 1921 – 2 May 1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy. His influential work '' Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' is generally considered one of the found ...

, author of

Pedagogy of the Oppressed ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' ( pt, Pedagogia do Oprimido) is a book by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, written in Portuguese between 1967–68, but published first in Spanish in 1968. An English translation was published in 1970, with the Por ...

. In his work, Freire highlights the theoretical ideas of

critical pedagogy Critical pedagogy is a philosophy of education and social movement that developed and applied concepts from critical theory and related traditions to the field of education and the study of culture. It insists that issues of social justice and de ...

, which is an approach that combines education and critical theory. This approach is relevant to social justice art education because it combines the critique of social injustices and the use of art as a mechanism to engage with social issues.

Culturally relevant arts education

Culturally relevant arts education (CRAE) is an education model that emerged from the Tubman Theater Project, a culturally relevant drama program in which African American middle and high school students examine their

internalized oppression In social justice theory, internalized oppression is a concept in which an oppressed group accepts the methods and incorporates the oppressive message of the oppressing group against their own best interest. Rosenwasser (2002) defines it as believ ...

and work to create positive racial identities. The program gives them the opportunity to learn from rehearsing and performing plays based on their lived experiences. This framework incorporates six different pedagogies. Three of these are art related; arts production,

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

, and

arts integration Arts integration differs from traditional education by its inclusion of both the arts discipline and a traditional subject as part of learning (e.g. using improvisational drama skills to learn about conflict in writing.) The goal of arts integrat ...

as well as three non-art related;

multicultural education Multicultural education is a set of educational strategies developed to provide students with knowledge about the histories, cultures, and contributions of diverse groups. It draws on insights from multiple fields, including ethnic studies and wo ...

, and contextual teaching and learning. CRAE engages both students and educators in a process in which they reflect on their social position in societal liberation and subjugation.

In higher education

Several universities have introduced social justice arts programs: *

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

- Performing Arts & Social Justice Major * Santa Clara University - Arts for Social Justice *

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

- The Prison Creative Arts Project

Community building

Sense of community is built through bridging geographic or interest-driven relationships. Building community helps individuals come together to challenge inner oppressive dynamics that have been imposed by institutions, structures and bodies. These inner oppressive dynamics have been termed “social ghosts” have been referenced in dance literature and function as a key theme within many community building art projects. Art for community building is a collective effort in which the art making process strengthens community ties. *

AIDS Memorial Quilt The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt or AIDS Quilt, is an enormous memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, it is the largest piece ...

* Oral History *

Mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

Art **

* Dance **Martha Graham Dance Company's 'Political Dance Project' **

Karen Jamieson Karen Jamieson (born July 10, 1946) is a Canadian dancer, choreographer, and mentor located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is the founder and artistic director of Karen Jamieson Dance Company, a non-profit contemporary dance company ...

's Carnegie Dance Troupe *

Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

** In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater **

Theater of the Oppressed The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) describes theatrical forms that the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal first elaborated in the 1970s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe. Boal was influenced by the work of the educator and theoris ...

**The Pride Youth Theater Alliance **People's Theatre Project- Social Change through the Arts * Photovoice **Photovoice Projects **Detroit Youth Passages Photovoice Project * Heidelberg Project15

Heidelberg Project The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor art project in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood on Detroit's east side, just north of the city's historically African-American Black Bottom area. It was created in 1986 by the artist Tyree Guyton, who was as ...

Social activism/social movements

* Black Movement ** Amiri Baraka ** Black Arts Repertory Theatre *

Feminist Movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...

Rosie the Riveter Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new ...

* Chicana/Chicano Movement **

La Raza The Spanish expression ('the people' or 'the community'; literal translation: 'the race') has historically been used to refer to the Hispanophone populations (primarily though not always exclusively in the Western Hemisphere), considered as ...

Dia De Los Muertos The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

** Low Rider Art * LGBT Rights and Gay Liberation **

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

References

External links

Music and Social Justice
article in the '' Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' {{Authority control Social justice The arts and politics Dewhurst, Marit. "Where Is the Action? Three Lenses to Analyze Social Justice Art Education." Equity & Excellence In Education, vol. 44, no. 3, 1 Jul. 2011, pp. 364 - 378. Buller, Rachel Epp. "Activism, Art, and Design: Bringing Social Justice to Life In the Higher Education Curriculum." Art Education, vol. 74, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2021, pp. 31 - 37.