Digital Art Students Create Art For Social Justice

Alegria Paez, Grade 12

Art Students Speak Up Through Their Art

This assignment was originally posted on 4/2016

My fantastic student teacher Lauren Bingham created a wonderful lesson for the Digital Art Class that can be found here: missbart.com. She showed students the work of artists Cindy Sherman, the Guerrilla Girls, Duane Hanson and Barbara Kruger. Then the students discussed stereotypes, cultural appropriation, and social justice. The students selected their own messages that they wanted to convey.

Here is what Alegria wrote about the lesson:
"This lesson reinforced the idea that the American culture isn't perfect. As progressive and liberal as the American culture paints itself to be, there is still much to be done in the name of progress and equality. My own project, intended to highlight the gender and racial pay gap, is an example of something that needs to change. Women are still paid less than men in the same job positions, and that inequality gets worse when you factor in women of different cultural background and races. Although the American culture is progressive in so many ways, those achievements in equality tend to hide other areas in which change is long overdue. Fortunately, the artists we studied in class have proven that although it is slow-going, people are starting to push social justice issues into different kinds of media: the most powerful, it seems, is art. Art for social justice is a way to highlight such injustices and communicate the need for change. It is inspiring to think that win a few simple yet impactful images, people can be galvanized into action."

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Michael Dignan, Grade 11

Nina Nguyen, Grade 12

"Throughout this lesson I learned that there are a lot of stereotypes that are overlooked such as teenage stereotypes and ones that are hobby-specific. I feel that my own project reflects social justice in terms of gender, instead of what I had originally intended which was ethnicity. I attempted to portray the view that some people have that does not consider women as equal as men, sometimes treating women as less than human. From the different artists we studied I learned that there are various different ways to deliver messages of social justice. The Guerrilla Girls showed the power of anonymity while Duane Hanson utilized the effectiveness of isolated individuals."

Raybien Felizardo, Grade 12
"My project reflects social justice by showing that each race is coming together and not being racist or being segregated."

Julia Cannalonga, Grade 11

Jessica Sarver, Grade 11
 "My project shows that men are considered superior to women and that it's easier for them to succeed in life, while to have the same opportunities, women have to go through many more obstacles."