Over zoom classes one of the few options I had for artxpose were the PBS documentaries which I ended up really enjoying, so this time around I decided to watch and report of the episode “Protest” (Art21: Season 4 Episode 2.) This episode featured a handful of artist (Nancy Spero, An-My Le, Alfredo Jaar, and Jenny Holzer) who all discussed how their art is a way to protest and note conflict in the larger world. The first artist who appeared was Nancy Spero who talks about her life with more specific details on her War work. A point of hers that resonated with me was that not all “protest” inspired work is what we would think a protest is today. Now we often think of activism as large gatherings of people with similar conflicting ideas. However Nancy notes how her definition of protesting is less about the activism and more so about changing the world into what she wants. I think with ones work being so personal and interpretation of art is so individual that this idea makes a lot of sense. Similarly to Nancy, An-My Le uses memories of her childhood and war in her past, from the smells she remembers to specific moments, to drive and inspire her work. That being said she notes that many of her pictures are incidental, or she couldn’t control everything like most artists would want to. She notes that she actually thinks it was the right thing to shoot and create the most authentic version rather then hiring actors. Further she also notes how one can use specific methods to emphasize ones points. For example, one thing she noted that stood out to me was the use of (larger) scale to show how insignificant we are, specifically in the scope of war for this example. Artist Alfred Jaar also spoke on his work. One exhibit that resonated with me was “Flowers in bloom.” This piece tells the story of a misused poem to convince people to join a revolutionary cause unjustly. He notes that despite the work having very deep and disturbing meaning it can still be beautiful. He shows flowers getting whipped around by wind to show the juxtaposition of the clashing forces of water and life and the wind showing either misinformation or the idea of death. I think theres something very profound this this statement because often protests are seen as something exposing the ugly side of society, however this can be done in amazing and beautiful ways.