Art As Social Inquiry

Our opinions affect our actions. Art As Social Inquiry uses different art forms to unearths those opinions.

The portraits/songs/performance art offer themselves up as recipients of uneasiness, justifications, political correctness, rationalizing, embarrassment, rage, sadness, compassion, hate, fear, hope, anxiety…whatever. The art will not yell back. But we can observe ourselves reacting to the faces and their stories, and perhaps reflect. Behind every social issue is a real person.

The hope is that personal connections are forged between the viewers and the subjects’ stories. What if what happened to somebody else — the “other” — happened to us? To even ask is a compassionate act. If we see ourselves in another’s place, we become part of the solution. Opinions are colored by the understanding that what happened to somebody else can happen to us. And if that is the case — and it is — what solutions would we want?

Putting ourselves in another’s place moves us closer to meaningful actions that can help make the world a better place for everybody.