With its capacity for commentary, art becomes the perfect tool for artists to create powerful visual and conceptual statements they might not be able make otherwise. Faced with hostile power structures at home or in exile, some artists rely upon art for a voice, while others see it as their duty to reveal the global power structures of industry and economics. Join these artists as they use their work to unearth, challenge, and speak out about issues around racism, nationalism, immigration, and oppression.
Raging battlefields, victorious figures on horseback—and a wheelchair with knives for handles. This is the kind of art that has emerged from and in response to conflict. Read a short history of conflict in art, from painters who glorified scenes of war to photographers who shared images of its aftermath with the world, from performers tackling national disputes in the gallery to artists using irony and contradiction in their work to speak to bigger issues.
By its very nature, art is a kind of documentation—it reflects the society in which it was made, and the intention of the artist who created it. The following artists use art specifically as a way of documenting conflict and its effects all over the globe, creating records of conflict situations, issues, and outcomes. But is documentary art just a record, or does it have an inherent element of commentary? Can art ever be objective?
Want to test your knowledge of art? Try these activities first or come back to them after you finish the tutorial.
Sometimes the conflict that art addresses is internal rather than external. Some artists deliberately employ an element of contradiction in their work in order to create tension or irony, highlighting certain qualities. Through unexpected juxtapositions, they challenge our expectations and perceptions of the everyday.
All video content by Khan Academy is under their license: CC by NC SA
Website created using Khan Academy Static Downloader