Art, Social Change, and the Statue of Theodore Roosevelt - Essay Sample

Introduction

Many artists have always created specific artworks that address the most pressing issues and perceptions about the world. Socially engaged arts could ignite demands for change as well as provide the platform for collaboration, reflection, and community building. An exploration of the statue of Theodore Roosevelt at the Museum of Natural History as well as listening to the Titus Kamphor's Ted Talk, "Can Art Amend History?" could be used to address the role of art in social change.

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The statue of Theodore Roosevelt at the American Museum of Natural History has been criticized by many as embodying a message of black oppression and white supremacy (Nosko, 2019). Such debates capture the major challenge that all the institutions must reconcile with their histories, such as the removal of names of buildings, honors, and artworks even though they bear positive and essential social and historical meanings.

Arts and Social Change

The social change relates to the process and the effect of various efforts to have a positive alteration of the social conditions. The social change includes a range of outcomes such as the change in attitudes, enhanced civic participation, policy change, as well as the building of movements (Kodish, 2013). There have been numerous discussions regarding the role that the arts could play in changing contemporary society.

In the United States, Artists have always played central roles in social movements addressing social issues ranging from gun violence to sexism and racial discrimination. Based on their expressive talents, the artists can shift imagery, challenge the cultural narratives as well as inspire emotions which can rarely be achieved with the traditional political methods. For example, in the 1840s, the famous Hutchinson Family singers developed a piece of music to the antislavery movements of the time (Nosko, 2019).

The musicians were more concerned about the freedom of African Americans from slavery; thus, they played a crucial role in the American antislavery movements. As they performed before the integrated audiences, the siblings by the names Asa, Judson, Abby, and John helped in nurturing the opposition to slavery, especially among the people who were closely exposed to the evil within the society (Kodish, 2013). Most interestingly, the success of such antislavery songs indicated that cause had some aspects of commercial appeal. Arts and culture help in the understanding of issues affecting the communities and the world at large.

As such, it has been indicated by several scholars that without arts such as music, theatre, and other forms of fictional writing and storytelling, the society would be without soul. In traditional societies, arts was used to codify and solidify social order through the repeated and intentional use of rituals and imagery (Nosko, 2019). However, in contemporary societies, arts have been used to describe the world and maintain social traditions, thus exploring the issue of identity and freedom as well as social justice.

It is important to note, however, that most artists believe that art alone cannot change society. Still, they instead give the voice to the individuals, thus sustaining the social movements (Kodish, 2013). As such, arts empower the activists by deepening their commitment and reinforcing the social values and group ideas. Also, arts can be used to communicate the ideals and issues of the movement beyond the activist group (Nosko, 2019). Through the concept of re-repeating the history of an issue, arts could help in establishing or revising the public perception as well as emotional tone.

Within the social movements, there is the evolution of groups of activists and the emergence of network values, rituals, rituals, events, and leaders. As instruments for social change, arts could be used to reinforce the values of a group as well as raise the question of the current conditions (Kodish, 2013). For instance, the visual images could raise concerns about the current social conditions, thus creating the image of social change.

Among the many arts that are believed to have spurred change within the society is the civil right anthem We Shall Overcome (Johnson, 1965). The Germans have since adopted the powerful connotations of freedom and justice in the song at the fall of the Berlin wall as well as Chinese protesters at Tiananmen Square (Nosko, 2019). Visual arts such as the statue of Theodore Roosevelt have been viewed to communicate more than mere verbal texts. In the event of social unrest, the visual arts set emotional tones and move the activist participants from fear to some situation of calm resolve as well as from a condition of indifference to action.

One of the most famous art is that in the Liberation of Aunt Jemima, where Alison Saar changes the image of a black exploited woman with an object of empowerment. The empowered black woman, Jemima then hold s a rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other hand. The image denoted a demand for the civil rights movement for social, economic, and political equity for all the black Americans while at the same time acknowledging the white stereotypes through the inclusion of a small background photograph of Jemima's image and a white child.

Even amidst extreme oppression and deprivation, people have always shown the capacity to resist dominating forces through arts. The resistance, which often takes the form of a joke, folktales, theatre, and songs, has also been observed to have a cultural impact in any movement (Kodish, 2013). When resistance becomes more overt, arts could be used as a means of solidifying the enactment of social change. Arts support not only the goals of the activists but also the help in the direct achievement of the purposes of the movement.

Most importantly, arts could be used to express messages and values to the social movement opponents as well as the undecided bystanders. In most cases, the artistic forms speak across the boundaries of class, religion, age, and ideology. For instance, the painting of the Great Wall by Judith Baca played a significant role in directing the youths of the community (Ma et al., 2014).

The youths painted various scenes of the revolutionist history of Los Angeles. For instance, most of them painted the Chicano communities. They continued to strive in maintaining their social identity while at the same time engaging in various social networks aimed at supporting the socio-economic, cultural as well as political power.

In the current world, digital images and film have been increasingly popular in presenting convincing change arguments (Kodish, 2013). For instance, Al Gore combined his ecological disaster PowerPoint presentation of Hurricane Katrina of New Orleans in a way that could persuade change. Arts challenge the dominant values, tactics, and beliefs of society through evoking emotions and particular meanings that may not be realized through narrow ideological terms.

Conclusion

In conclusion, although arts alone cannot change society, they give the voice to the individuals, thus sustaining the social movements. As such, arts empower the activists by deepening their commitment and reinforcing the social values and group ideas. Accordingly, art and writing could amend our history and change our future.

References

Ma, Z., Melville, D. S., Liu, J., Chen, Y., Yang, H., Ren, W., ... & Li, B. (2014). Rethinking China's new great wall. Science, 346(6212), 912-914. Retrieved from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6212/912

Johnson, L. B. (1965). We Shall Overcome. Speech. Retrieved from http://www. Tamu. edu/comm/pres/speeches/lbjovercome. html.

Kodish, D. (2013). cultivating Folk Arts and Social Change. The Journal of American Folklore, 126(502), 434-454. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.502.0434?seq=1

Nosko, A. (2019). Expressive arts for social work and social change. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2018.1553107