The Power of Art: Using Visual Images to Teach Social Justice
Art can be a way of raising student awareness of the injustices that many face throughout the World.
The images above are student work.
Paula Hogue
Art Teacher
Mount Saint Charles Academy
Woonsocket, RI
Every year, I present a unit to each one of my art classes that deals with issues of social justice. My students are instructed to convey an injustice issue using only images. Depending on the artistic level of the class, and the age of the students, topics are either assigned to students or students are given the opportunity to investigate a topic of choice. The project begins with research. I direct my students to the website of the Human Rights Watch organization: www.hrw.org. It is there where students begin to become experts in the topic that they will later visually relate and write about. It is my way of helping my students to begin to think beyond the boundaries of our classroom.