There will always be taboo or controversial topics only some artists are willing to address, issues such as war, poverty and racial inequality. When artists touch on these subject they are interested in sparking dialogue among viewers in order to initiate change. Each of these artists produced controversial work that exposed viewers to the lives and hardships of their artworks’ focal point. The first two works were created in response to controversies in the first part of the twentieth-century. Pablo Picasso addresses the pain of innocence lost during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), while Gordon Parks sheds light on the plight of poor African Americans struggling to survive during the Great Migration (1910-1970). Like Parks’s tribute to the millions of African American migrants, Do-Hu Suh memorializes the unrecognized efforts of hundreds of African Americans who helped to build the foundations of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with this controversial anti-monument. Continuing on the troubled theme of race relations in the United States, Michael D’Antouano offers commentary on the systemic problem of white police brutality on black male youth, while Shepard Fairey inspires youth through the story of Barack Obama. Each of these works of art focus on controversial topics during the time of their creation. They sparked conversation and even outrage that either has or soon will spark change within their respective societies.
Michael D’Antuono’s A Tale of Two Hoodies (2012) by M. Ochoa
Shepard Fairey’s Barack Obama (2008) by T. Faulkner
Gordon Park’s Untitled Photograph (n.d.) by D. Burch