Social Justice Art

Social Justice Art
Student’s Name
Institution of Affiliation
Social Justice Art
Over the years, the issue of social injustice against the innocent has shifted from being an isolated problem to one canvassed globally. Artists have not been left behind in their effort to address some of the crimes against the society through their artwork. The activist’s role taken by artists throughout history to the present has not gone unnoticed as evidenced by the message communicated by their masterpieces either through performance or visual images (Dewhurst, 2010). Art has become a tool for bringing social change by creating awareness in the community and harnessing individuals to take a stand for their fundamental rights.
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Having been born in Oklahoma, Tatyana is a renowned artist and activist whose work has been influential in expressing the atrocities meted to women in American streets. Just like most artists, her passion for art started while in high school. She, later on, joined the University of Arts in Philadelphia where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2007. Fazlalizadeh’s technique is solely grounded on oil painting, and she came to the limelight when she had the former president Barrack Obama in one of her artwork. The highlight of her career was witnessed in 2012 when she embarked on the Stop Telling Women to Smile project in New York City.
The campaign incorporated street art to ensure that the message conveyed reached everyone in the society and as a result, it became a constant reminder of the violence against women in the community.

It involved a compilation of posters containing portraits of women who had prior experienced sexual harassment or gender-based violence. Furthermore, the participants’ interviews became part of the project and captions of their statement included just below the portraits. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s masterpiece has given women a voice to empower themselves against the harassment. The facts that it is a public project means everyone in the community is in contact with it in their daily lives and as such it acts as a constant reminder that gender violence in crime.

Justyne Fischer
In the recent past, police lynching in America has been on the increase, and it has been linked to the problem of racial discrimination. Justyne Fischer, famous for his printmaking artwork, has been using his artistic skills in addressing unfair treatment of the Black community. Recently, the tragic death of Treyvon Martin and Jordan Davis raised public outcry since the incidence was racially instigated. The rivalry between the authorities and the Black community in the state of Florida has widened the rift after the commissioning of the Stand Your Ground Law. Following this Fischer, embarked on a project dubbed The Sunshine State that was an accurate reflection of the emotional pain of the family and the residents of Florida.

It was also an eye-opener to the law enforcement agencies of their failure to uphold fairness when dealing African American suspects. The stereotypic notion against the Black community has put them in bad taste and on the wrong side of the law (Fraser, 2009). Fischer chose this specific masterpiece to commemorate the lives of the two young boys whose death remains unforgotten. Moreover, his statement on the painting was, “White men stand their ground, Black boys get gunned down,” and it told the story incompletion. In my opinion, the struggle for social justice has far-reaching impacts and artists have played there part and should everyone in the community.
References
Dewhurst, M. (2010). An inevitable question: Exploring the defining features of social justice art education. Art Education, 63(5), 6-13.
Fraser, N. (2009). Social justice in the age of identity politics. Geographic thought: A praxis perspective, 72-91.