Art for a better world: Arts influence on society and politics

Why were St Lucia’s Rastafari communities often sceptical of Covid vaccinations?

This is just one of the questions that a new series of comic artworks grapples with in their search to explore the influence of art on society and politics.

Art For a Better World, staged at The Foundry Social Justice and Human Rights Centre in Oval Way, Vauxhall last month, was a collaboration between The Open University, Kings College London and Philippine cartoon collective, Pitik Bulag.

The showcase featured six cartoons, produced by international artists and academics, which address social challenges across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean and Africa.

The collection forms part of a programme organised by the Open University (OU) that aims to look at the most productive and simplest way to share research to the public.

Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, a senior lecturer in Politics and International Studies at the OU, who was  instrumental in curating the exhibition said: “This initiative has the capacity to change the way we think about the global challenges of the day, and how we can work together to address them.

“Academics can spend their entire careers working to solve big social problems but struggle to communicate their work to everyone else.”

The exhibition also included a video installation produced by the Face in the Hole art collective about the social impacts of radical political debate, and seven mixed-media images depicting social challenges from around the world.

From March until April 2025, many of the works will appear at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

For further information visit The Open University

Pictured top: Dr Precious Chatterje-Doody, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at the OU stands with the exhibition’s visual introduction, which she created with OU academic Dr Paul-François Tremlett and Italian artist Christian Mirra (Picture: Images by Ben Meadows)