Although all artists do not explicitly indicate they are striving to heal, there is clearly an effort to remedy ills of society through their art. Each artist has the intention of exploring a problem through their distinct medium. In some cases the mere act of shining light on the issue is helping to rectify the problem. The medium and approach to the topic is sometimes key to the recovery. In other cases there are solutions woven into the pieces. The argument could be made that all of these things are evident in each of the artists’ works. Hence, a story can be seen and experienced. There is powerful journey in the art that can heal the artist and the viewer.
Trenton Doyle Hancock is an artist that has an entire mythology behind his artwork. He was raised by Evangelical Ministers and Missionaries in Paris, Texas. This upbringing influenced his art. His alter ego and hero of the artwork is Torpedo Boy. There are “Mounds” that are preyed upon by the Vegans. Torpedo Boy strives to protect the Mounds. In his art he uses comic books, illustrations, animations, horror films, toys, and performance as inspiration and as his medium. Murray White from the Boston Globe writes about Hancock’s exhibit, “Mind of the Mound: Critical Mass” in his Boston Globe article, “A Hero’s Tale, Freshly Told at Mass MoCA.” White explains Hancock’s depiction of the religious atmosphere of his grandmother’s house and says, "If this was Hancock’s typical visit to Grandma’s, you can see why he might need the Moundverse as solace and refuge, a place to call his own.” The personal becomes artwork that addresses the political.
White also says of Hancock’s artwork that it’s “truly heroic impulse to overcome obstacles both cataclysmic and mundane…” The hero, Torpedo Boy, in Hancock’s work provides the kind of hope that I want the unit to promote while exploring black experiences and racism. The hope must be the central idea.5
David Leggett is another visual artist that deals with political and social issues. He grew up in Springfield, MA in a neighborhood cursed with the crack epidemic of the 80s and 90s. He had a mixed experience in that he attended a private Catholic school while living in a community that was struggling. He attended the Savannah College of Art for undergraduate school and the Art Institute of Chicago for graduate school. Leggett says of his work in the article “David Leggett Has the Last Laugh” by Kerry Cardoza, “I wouldn’t outright call myself a political artist, but there are some very political things that go on in my work. It’s just the climate-people are responding to that more now. I’ve seen other artists after Trump won, saying, ‘We need to get back to work.’ I’m like, ‘What were you doing before that?’ Whatever you make, it’s still your duty to be involved in some way.’” The students should identify with this sense of duty.
Leggett has a sense of humor with his art. He uses anything and everything as inspiration. He uses bright colors, television characters like Fat Albert, Bozo the Clown, Superman, and Kermit to name a few. He reels the viewer in with his bright colors, pop culture imagery, and humor. Still, there is a message. Leggett said, “If you’re going to make something that is politically charged or has maybe a deeper message-having color, having humor, also craft materials, having these things is like sugar helping the medicine go down,” he says. “It makes people come closer. And sometimes people are laughing at something they probably shouldn’t have laughed at because it’s almost like camouflage.” (Cardoza) His artwork is fun and alluring while critiquing various racist constructs. He is calling out the viewer with his style. 6
Nick Cave is an artist with hope and healing on his mind. Growing up in Fulton, Missouri with his mother and grandparents Cave currently creates and lives in Chicago. He is a fashion designer and artist. He is a trained dancer and this is evident in his art that is often meant to be worn and therefore mobilized. The many manifestations of racism are behind much of Cave’s works. In 1992 Cave created a “Soundsuit” after the Rodney King beating. The suits he is famous for, seek to and succeed in making race and genderless figures. Cave’s initial reaction to the Rodney King beating was one of horror and isolation. The suits are made of all kinds of materials and are worn. Through one moving and dancing in the suits a sound is made by some of the materials on the suits. The first suit has twigs on it which helped create the sound. Cave said of the suits in a New York Times article with Megan O’Grady, “The sound was a way of alarming others to my presence. The suit became a suit of armor where I hid my identity. It was something ‘other.’ It was an answer to all the these things I had been thinking about: What do I do to protect my spirit in spite of all that’s happening around me?” The suits are a tool that express Cave’s journey as well as help him move forward. The anonymity and beauty of the suits help the viewer as well.
Cave wants to transcend surface aspects of the persona and start a dialogue about true humanity. Gun violence is of particular concern to him. Living in Chicago and seeing the violence in a Black community that is in need of change. He not only works to help communities through his artwork, but also through his teaching and numerous humanitarian projects. Students should be able to see that there is a clear force for good in Cave’s work and that they too can use their medium of choice to inform and heal their community.7
Bisa Butler, a former art teacher from New Jersey, tells a story in each of her quilted works. She is inspired by photos of people in history. There are clear and identifiable stories in her pieces of famous people and situations that she is teaching her viewers about. There are also stories of people that may not be famous or specifically known, but still a life is there on the fabric telling the viewer a story. She has a portrait of Frederick Douglas, a famous figure whose historical significance cannot be denied. Another piece is “Safety Patrol” of a group of kids with one at the front of the group holding his hands out to prevent them from crossing the street. Although the children depicted in the piece are not well renowned, they have their own story. Butler was leaving teaching and thinking of her students and Trayvon Martin. She said that the piece gave her hope in a difficult time.8
While in art school at Howard University, Butler learned about the importance of showing people in a positive light and she learned about color. She referred to it as her mission to educate and portray people of color positively in her art. Her professors taught about the use of bold colors or “Kool-Aid Colors” that were more of an African influence. Although she was taught to use such color, she said she isn’t using these colors because of this, she is just drawn to bright colors and uses them in her art. Bisa Butler’s vibrant quilting brings such joy to the viewer. Some of the quilts may tell a story of pain or hardship, there is also hope. In her Art Institute of Chicago video she says that she wants to deal with the problems in society, but most importantly wants to say, “Look what we can do.”9
The hope is that students will look at all of these artists and their artwork and think about what they themselves can do and then do it.