I love reciprocation so when Change Agent Kathleen posted a great blog post giving Changents a shout out and talking about art and activism, I figured I’d return the favor and riff off her ideas at the same time.

[art action union]

Kathleen is from down under and runs a nifty community called AAU: Art Action Union.  Basically this space gives artists a place to showcase their art and the public a chance to check it out.  In Kathleen’s words “Our aim is to provide creative & concerned people a platform & audience, archive of thoughts & celebration of actions for change.”  Pretty cool! 

[more than pretty pictures]

Like many, I love the weird/modern/eccentric photos and paintings that depict real ideas and issues in fantasy or strange ways (think: Dali).  Reading a headline is one way to get information and draw conclucions, but there is something so much more powerful about looking at a visual representation of the problem.  For me, it’s like something clicks in my head. 

For example, check out this pic:

What does it say to you?

To me, it says that we are governed by the clock. Our days are so scheduled, down to the last minute, that it’s all we can do to keep our heads above the water.  This piece of art makes me wonder when we lost touch with the true reality, and instead moved into the virtual one that runs our lives.  And while scheduling is meant to make us more productive, have we ever stopped to think that maybe jamming as much as possible into one day is NOT a good thing?  Stress is the source of so many social problems today…and stress often comes from a lack of time.

 Maybe this isn’t what the artist was intending, but I don’t care. That’s how I see it—and that’s one of the best things about art.  You draw your own conclusions, you are inspired in a different way than the next person who looks at it.  But one thing is common: art is way more inspiring than words on a page and for me it really makes me want to take positive action.   

Does anyone have examples of their favorite social change art?