Context brings the brightest minds to your living room with perspective-shifting online lectures.

Art and Social Justice with Dr. Jennie Hirsh

Art and Social Justice with Dr. Jennie Hirsh


No events are scheduled at this time. Want to be notified when it’s back? Click the blue button to the right and we’ll notify you.

Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

This Conversation will explore art that promotes social justice. Focused on examples drawn from the past 40 years, we will discuss art commissions, including murals, sculpture, and performance in cities including Philadelphia, New York, and Santa Fe, in the US, as well as selected cities abroad, such as Rio de Janeiro, London, and more. Specifically, we will examine how artists have transformed urban landscapes through programs like Philadelphia's Mural Arts and organizations such as New York City's Creative Time, considering how artists have confronted discrimination based on race, class, and gender orientation.
Led by an expert on modern and contemporary art, Jennie Hirsh, this interactive seminar will highlight how artists have used their vision to raise awareness about social injustices and prejudice through specific art objects, installations, and performative events that combine art and politics with an aim toward effecting change. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of how art can help the viewer understand historical challenges of the past as well as those that continue to undermine justice in the present.

Jennie Hirsh (Ph.D., Bryn Mawr College) is a Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She has held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton and Columbia Universities, as well as pre-doctoral fellowships from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, the U.S. Fulbright Commission, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Wolfsonian FIU. Hirsh has authored essays on artists including Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Yinka Shonibare, and Regina Silveira, and is co-editor, with Isabelle Wallace, of Contemporary Art and Classical Myth (Ashgate 2011).

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 17 reviews
82%
(14)
12%
(2)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
6%
(1)
P
Pamela M (Fort Lauderdale, US)
Fabulous in depth presentation

Take any class offered by Dr. Hirsh, she is intelligent and has a breadth and depth in her knowledge of all art. Her presentations are thoroughly prepared and engaging. This particular course was amazing. I learned so much.

S
Susan G (Wilmette, US)
An Excellent Seminar

An excellent seminar - very insightful with wonderful visuals - very thought provoking.

M
Melissa Kaplan-Charkow (Hamden, US)
Speaking truth to power in contemporary art

Dr. Hirsh delivered a powerful overview of contemporary art used as protest, advocacy, and a medium for representing the marginalized and oppressed. It was extremely informative, engaging, and timely.

J
Johannah Pilot (Regina, CA)
Great presentation

With great enthusiasm and knowledge Jennie provided an in-depth overview of and introduction to notable artists of social commentary and contemporary political issues. I highly recommend this seminar.

R
Rachel (Milan, IT)
Outstanding presentation!

I came away with a much better understanding of the role that art can play in our world, together with an insider's look at many interesting artists in this genre. Jennie Hirsch has inspired me to learn more!

Customer Reviews

Based on 17 reviews
82%
(14)
12%
(2)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
6%
(1)
P
Pamela M (Fort Lauderdale, US)
Fabulous in depth presentation

Take any class offered by Dr. Hirsh, she is intelligent and has a breadth and depth in her knowledge of all art. Her presentations are thoroughly prepared and engaging. This particular course was amazing. I learned so much.

S
Susan G (Wilmette, US)
An Excellent Seminar

An excellent seminar - very insightful with wonderful visuals - very thought provoking.

M
Melissa Kaplan-Charkow (Hamden, US)
Speaking truth to power in contemporary art

Dr. Hirsh delivered a powerful overview of contemporary art used as protest, advocacy, and a medium for representing the marginalized and oppressed. It was extremely informative, engaging, and timely.

J
Johannah Pilot (Regina, CA)
Great presentation

With great enthusiasm and knowledge Jennie provided an in-depth overview of and introduction to notable artists of social commentary and contemporary political issues. I highly recommend this seminar.

R
Rachel (Milan, IT)
Outstanding presentation!

I came away with a much better understanding of the role that art can play in our world, together with an insider's look at many interesting artists in this genre. Jennie Hirsch has inspired me to learn more!