Why Music and Art Matter In The Fight For Social Justice
Cover Photo by Erin Song on Unsplash
Without a doubt, music and art touch our lives in various ways. A ballad can strike a sentimental chord to anyone who listens. A mural painting can inspire positive feelings of appreciation about the beauty and the complexity of life. One can be agitated upon seeing a photograph of poverty, war, and injustice.
ART PROVOKES CONVERSATION
Music and art are universal languages that influence our consciousness. When we listen to music, we enhance our awareness about ourselves, our surroundings, and society in general. Art and music provide a platform where people can start to think about social justice issues. By highlighting what is usually not discussed in the open, the public can take notice of social problems and act on it. Therefore, while music and art provide sensory pleasures, they can also be used to tackle significant political issues of our time.
In the modern era, social justice artists have created art to highlight concerns that need immediate attention. The famous stencil artist and social justice warrior Banksy, for instance, provoke conversation about poverty, income inequality, and war through viral street art. Street artists also paint murals that stir debate on wars of aggression and police brutality. Art has become more than just an ornament that creates beauty out of space, but as a method to inspire change and move people to action.
Social justice artists create messages through their work. Through the lyrics, music makes for authoritative social commentary. Musicians write about life experiences that may seem mundane but illustrate the inequality in society. Today, music is disseminated not only through lyrics and sound, but also images. Music videos are a way of conveying a particular narrative that could stir emotion and make people stop and think about social issues. Even without words, music can make people feel, altering consciousness or the way they see things.
MUSIC UNITES PEOPLE
Music rallies people to form social bonds and is used in parties to make the interaction better and more entertaining. Music allows people with various interests to focus on a single goal. By building this group identity, music can be a tool of unification. To effect social change, raising awareness is not enough. Once people's eyes open to social realities, they need a medium that could unite them.
As a language, music is not as inflammatory or alienating as other media. It uses words that are not too complex for the ordinary person to understand. And of course, it incorporates sound that provides lasting connections among groups of people that may come from different backgrounds but are all similarly aspiring for a social cause. With its capacity to reach a general audience, music contributes to social justice aspirations considerably.
Music also transmits emotions in a way that other languages can't. The words and sounds contained in a song can make people think and feel in a shared manner. The shared feeling can lead to shared thinking and, in the long term, collective action. Social justice musicians need to make their music not only entertaining but also accessible so that the messages can be heard and embraced by as many people as possible.
Music and art are cultural staples of our everyday life. They mark how far we have gone as a civilized society. Yet beyond that, it influences our ways of being so that we can be agents of social change. Music and art both provoke critical thinking and start a relevant conversation among people. They also heighten our senses so that we can look further and investigate the problems in society that escape notice. Beyond providing pleasure and entertainment, history has proven that music and art can be active partners for social change.
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash