Kara Walker Inspired Social Justice Issue Collages

 Social justice issues are a great way to tie in the everyday experiences and concerns of personal relevance to students. After brainstorming various social justice issues and introducing the work of contemporary artist Kara Walker, students created their own meaningful collages based on her work. I was very moved by the content, thoughtfulness, and power within each of their works. My students never cease to inspire me in their capacity of concern for others. Student work also tied into Black History month and their social studies TEKS and was built onto a Civil Rights Leaders portrait series inspired by MLK's birthday.

We learned about the art element shape and the design principle contrast, positive, and negative space. Very interesting and compassionate discussions resulted in response to this lesson and many of the same social issues concerning students today kept coming up such as body image and eating disorders, bullying, cyber bullying, racial issues, violence, Civil war history, homelessness, gender equality, slavery, LGBTQI rights, domestic violence, Veterans, poverty, food stamps, and immigration which was a window into the concerns my students have in their personal lives. Art can be a transformative method of healing and used as a way to express thoughts and feelings in ways words cannot. I reinforced concepts of creating a narrative from their ELAR classes as well and how could they use their artwork to tell a story with images instead of words.

This was my first time teaching this lesson and I cannot wait to teach it again in the future.