The Artist and What We Choose to See

Artists have long stood at the forefront of social change, not simply as commentators on their societies, but as forces that shape what those societies are willing to see. From Picasso’s response to the violence of Guernica to the unsettling clarity of Baldwin’s prose or the quiet insistence of Dorothea Lange’s photographs, creative work has repeatedly altered the boundaries of public awareness. Art does more than reflect the world as it is. It shifts attention, reframes experience, and, in doing so, changes what a culture can no longer ignore.