Art as Socio-Political Commentary: Slide Show Ideas

I like to keep a dialogue going when presenting a slide-show to the class, so I've purposely given very limited information here, to help students analyze the potential messages or meanings behind the sculptures shown.  These images are meant to accompany the Art as Socio-Political Commentary Unit Plan, which includes some suggested questions for students, but teachers can use these images to provoke all kinds of interesting discussions!

"Lantern" by Ai Wei Wei

This sculpture is a replica of the lanterns Ai hung over all of the surveillance cameras that Chinese authorities had mounted around his home and studio.

"Leisure Lady" - with ocelots - by Yinka Shonibare

With these fibreglass figures, Shonibare explores the nature of leisure and class.

"Beyond the White Wall" by Tory Fair

This series of 3 resin figures decorated in hand-cast resin flowers all have their heads submerged in the wall.

"Longing" by Sonny Assu

This series of "masks" by Sonny Assu are created from the cast-off knots of wood from a developer's lot on Assu's ancestral lands.

"Mother with her Dead Son" by Kathe Kollowitz

Kollowitz began working on this sculpture on the anniversary of her youngest son's death in the first World War.

"Power Ties" by Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz

Guerra and de la Paz created this series of works from cast-off clothing left at their local dump.

"Cardinal Sin" - Banksy

Banksy here depicts the bust of a priest with his face sawed off and replaced by a mosaic of bathroom tiles.

"Voyage" - Carl Beam

This wooden sculpture is a replica of the hull of the Santa Maria, and is part of a series of works called "The Columbus Project."