Does art have any impact in the real world? It is often just "wallpaper", but certainly religious art, and now advertising affect us. I'm particularly interested in these images that encode our beliefs/experiences so deeply they are hard to examine. Can these images have their meaning transformed?
I've loosely followed the photographer Minor White's notion of "equivalence," the idea that visuals are a non-verbal language that can arouse sensations and emotions in the viewer. These can lead to action in the external world, and/or to internal change. I collage images I've created or found in new combinations; side by side, overlapped or overlaid.. Sometimes I'm just free associating on what goes with what. Does that make a difference? Family therapists often solve "problems" by "re-framing" them, that is, changing their context or meaning. Therapeutic reframes usually "positively connote" problematic behavior, that is, understand the positive motive of the behavior, and allowing less problematic actions to be substituted. Other reframes aim to change the meaning into something so toxic that the person recoils. Is this reframing applicable on a larger, non-therapeutic level? Well, satire is an example of this approach. But there is a risk that the change will be to harden the person or groups position. Certainly Mayor Guiliani was not amused by the Sensation show. I have friends who fundamentally disagree with me about religion and politics, but because we know and respect one another, jokes and satire have led to at least discussion. So. Does this lead to action? Possibly, but it's hard to predict the actions resulting. ( Long article on re-framing - pdf )
A caveat: It is easy for "helpers" (or opponents) to make a problem worse by trying too hard to change the other. An approach then is to change yourself and your reactions. An example is the family therapist Murray Bowen's idea of "Differentiating Self". This is similar to the Buddhist idea of non-attachment, and in some ways mirrors Minor White's idea of using "transforming images" that change the self. (The last picture in the Judgement series shows the Buddha, because no one except another family therapist would recognize Murray Bowen :).) This is an invitation to discussion, so send me an e-mail.