Rhea Aaditya (’22) and Lydia Lisanti (’22) ran the first two sessions of their Aequitas Week workshop – “Was Art Always Controversial? Exploring the Evolution of Art History”– March 22 and 23.
Aequitas Week, held annually by the SJC, was moved from its usual time in January to March. More on the adaption of Aequitas Week to abide with COVID-19 restrictions can be found here.
Aaditya said the purpose of their workshop is to educate the community on how issues such as sexism, racism and classism have been portrayed throughout the history of art and how contemporary art has attempted to combat these issues to create social change.
Lisanti and Aaditya said they wanted to lead a workshop surrounding art because it’s a topic they both enjoy learning about and feel comfortable teaching.
Aaditya said she hopes in the coming days, her and Lisanti’s workshop attendees will be enlightened on the impact art can have in relation to social justice and be inspired to form their own opinion on the subject.
“Art really does have such an immense, such a powerful ability to shape the way you think about what you see,” she said. “We hope to show that— how artists have used their voice to demonstrate these social justice issues.”
