Activist art: Research

    For my Digital Research project, I have decided to my project on the topic of Activist art and its relation to Civil Rights movement into present day.
     As an artist myself, I aspire to make work that deals with social issues and my experiences dealing with sexism, racism, and classism. My main mission as an artist is to tell my stories, as they are just as important as anyone else's, despite being a woman and an Latina. I want to prompt social change with my art, have young girls look at it being able to relate but feel empowered that they can one day do the same in any form, despite what they may encounter from others, being told that they will never be strong enough to make a change.  I've encountered the same growing up from my teachers and even my family as well as other adults.
    I have gained a lot since deciding to pursue art. I have been able to discuss things that I have gone though, that I have been scared from, that still hurt me to this day though making paintings and drawings and prints. Even if its just a painting of an emotion or a bunch of emotions from having them locked away to being able to bring out into the world in a visual form is a powerful  experience. I have surprised myself from how far  I am willing to go to get my point across. Those are the pieces I am most proud of.
    A lot of inspiration comes from looking at Activist art. More specifically Feminist art and art by   Women of color or Artists from different countries that have experienced far damaging events and experiences in their lifetime, based on historical circumstances or societal situations. Their work is important and extremely powerful and becomes a part of history even to this day.

In beginning my research I came across this great resource website called theartstory.com which lists a number of art movements including the Feminist art movement. It details its history along with a list of prominent Feminist artists dating back to the 1950s to Contemporary Feminist artists as well as a lists a quotes about Feminist art and analysis of famous pieces. Upon looking at the list of Feminist artists found a Cuban artist named Ana Mendieta, a Multimedia artist active in the 60s though 70s whose worked focused on the violence inflicted on the female body. here are a few images of her works.








Another artist (and a personal favorite of mine) that I was able to find on the website was Kiki Smith a Sculptor whose work surrounded the ides of the female experience, also focusing on the female body.
here are some of her pieces





I look forward to doing some more research. I will probably focus on feminist art but be sure to round it out with art dealing with other issues such a queer art and art dealing with racism. It will definitely help me personally with my own body of work so I'm definitely excited about it.