On this
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday we think not only of the great man’s work on
behalf of justice, but also of the fact that pursuit of justice and peace is an
ongoing process. Recent events only emphasize the truth that there is still
much work to be done.
Today I am
thinking of artists across the centuries who used their artmaking skills to
call attention to injustices of many kinds. Picasso was incensed at the
unprovoked bombing of Guernica in 1937; this led to his creation of the great
painting of the same name.
Pablo Picasso,
Guernica, 1937
Goya used
his printmaking skills to document the Inquisition; Turner made paintings about
the atrocities of the slave trade in Britain, as did William Blake. Benny
Andrews, Elizabeth Catlett, Edward
Kienholz, David Hammons, Jacob
Lawrence, Robert Indiana, Norman
Rockwell and many others all made work having to do with civil rights.
Benny Andrews, Education
Quest #1 (Migrant Series), 2004
My point is that art can speak for peace. Art can speak for
justice. Art can direct our attention to wrongs that need to be made right.
Art is image. Images can be seen. Images have voice. Images
have sound. Images have IMPACT. Art. Image. Impact. Peace. Justice. Right.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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