Q&A: What role do artists play in shaping social change?

This month I received the following reader’s question, What do you think is the role of artists when it comes to social change?

Social media has given its users the power to write freely and to express personal thoughts and opinions. This is wonderful as it opens the space for writers, journalists, bloggers, and poets to express themselves creatively and authentically and to get their audiences introduced to topics that matter to them.

I’m often fascinated by the incredible work so many men and women across the globe are doing in fields like philanthropy, business, or the arts. Strong voices that are of service to their communities and just need to be heard.

Writing, and more specifically, blogging, is a powerful tool to me, as it enables me to embrace the work of those incredible men and women, start conversations and find the right way to bring their work and those issues to a larger public.

Every culture has areas of vast silence – topics that we don’t like to talk about. The most interesting thing for an artist is to pick through the debris of a culture, to look at what’s been forgotten or not really taken seriously. It’s the artist’s job to reflect the times we’re living in. Not to dictate what and how to think, but to start meaningful conversations about topics that can be covered with shame and remove it, which is of incredible value.

However, I genuinely appreciate art from all kinds of topics — art doesn’t have to be expressed activism for me. Sometimes art is more interesting when it’s open enough to develop my own dialogue with it. Poor Things, for example, is a wonderful absurdistic comedy novel. Hilarious, while at the same time it has serious undertones and very subtile ways of pointing out power dynamics. As long as it’s interesting, it’s all good for me.

Therefore, compelling and engaging art can visualize those stories and bring them to life. In many ways, I think artists, if they want to, have the powerful ability to connect their generation with causes that will both be meaningful and accelerate progress at the same time.

Thank you for reading. This reader’s question is part of the Ask Me Anything series. Feedback from you, the reader, is important to me. Want to ask me a question for next month? Send me yours team@lisanneswart.com

Here is a list of the last 3 readers’ questions I’ve answered:

• Working with people you admire
• The number 1 skill everyone should master
• The 3 pieces of advice I would give my younger self

» Explore more answers to readers’ questions