Perhaps every generation feels its time is one of existential threat …

That said, tremendous tension regarding how to respond makes the process of change difficult and time-consuming.

Some stubbornly resist social movement; others assertively kindle it. Over time, pressure builds until a tipping point occurs.

Sometimes it’s a visual image that ignites a profound shift, such as the photograph below, taken as James Brock dumps acid into his hotel’s swimming pool to disrupt those protesting the whites-only policy.

Societies advance when increased awareness, typically enhanced by an affective response, leads to inquiry, and ultimately action.

Research finds that it is not the dire, pressing, or dangerous issue, but the most evocatively articulated, that catalyzes change. (Peeples, 2011)

Seeing a white man pour acid into a swimming pool to deter interracial interaction was appalling. Minds and hearts shifted. The next day, after an 83-day filibuster, the Civil Rights Act was approved. (NPR.org)

Artists in general and visual artists in particular, I believe, have an opportunity to inspire crucial conversations not only about the status quo but also about our goals, indeed, our values. Art has the potential to expand knowledge and experience and to facilitate deeper understanding because it transcends the cognitive mind and taps into human faculties such as embodied emotions, experiences, and identiies. (Muhr, 2020)

Visual artists creating work that makes apparent what otherwise is invisible may in fact help us to see, to aspire, and to act.