“The public is the tribunal before which all art is judged - not the critics or the academies. The public is the artist's only patron, and has certain fundamental rights. It will submit to education, and will respond to suggestion, but it will not be bullied.” ArtArtistCertainRightsArt IsFundamentalsCriticsJudgedSubmitSuggestionsAcademyBulliedPatronTribunalsFundamental Rights Author:Walter J. Phillips
“Since art exists for humanity it is not unreasonable to assume that humanity has some rights in the matter. Who pays the piper calls the tune. An artist cannot be at once a rebel and a comfortable citizen.” ArtMatterArtistHumanityPayRightsCitizensComfortableAssumingTunesRebelUnreasonablePipers Author:Walter J. Phillips
“Our role as artist is more controversial now because there are those, claiming the absolute authority of religion, who detest much of our work as much as they detest most of our politics. Instead of rationally debating subjects like abortion or gay rights, they condemn as immoral those who favor choice and tolerance. They disown their own dark side and magnify everyone else's until, at the extreme, doctors are murdered in the name of protecting life. I wonder, who is this God they invoke, who is so petty and mean? Is God really against gun control and food stamps for poor children?” MeanChildrenArtistChoicesNamesSidesDarkPoorWonderRolesRightsSubjectsGayAuthorityGunDoctorsAbsolutesExtremesFavorsToleranceAbortionGun ControlStampsImmoralPettyControversialDark SideGay RightsInvokeDetestFood StampsPoor Children Author:Barbra Streisand
“I'm both an artist / filmmaker and a human rights defender.” HumansArtistRightsHuman RightsFilmmakerDefenders Author:Pamela Yates
“If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?” IfsHumansArtistSpeakRightsDignityHuman Dignity Author:Ai Weiwei
“Khairani Barokka is a writer, spoken-word poet, visual artist and performer whose work has a strong vein of activism, particularly around disability, but also how this intersects with, for example, issues of gender - she's campaigned for reproductive rights in her native Indonesian, and is currently studying for a PhD in disability and visual cultures at Goldsmiths. She's written a feminist, environmentalist, anti-colonialist narrative poem, with tactile artwork and a Braille translation. How could I not publish that?” ArtistCultureStrongStudyIssuesRightsWrittenExamplePoetFeministGenderActivismNarrativeVisualsNativePerformersDisabilityVeinsPublishTranslationsArtworkEnvironmentalistSpoken WordVisual ArtPhdsTactileReproductive RightsVisual ArtistBraille Author:Deborah Smith
“I learned from the Macarturos. I had never been at a table with a labor organizer and a playwright and a performance artist and an anthropologist and a human rights lawyer. Usually at most gatherings, it's all writers. But suddenly I was at a table with all these different people and I learned from each of them, learned from the work they're doing, learned new ways to solve my problems.” PeopleWayHumansDifferentProblemArtistRightsLaborPerformancesTablesHuman RightsSolveLawyerNew WaysGatheringDifferent PeoplesPlaywrightOrganizerAnthropologists Author:Sandra Cisneros