Social Change | Perspectives | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Detail of Augusta Savage's sculpture "Lift Every Voice and Sing

Harlem Is Everywhere: Episode 5, Art as Activism

What was the political legacy of the Harlem Renaissance?

Jessica Lynne, Mary Schmidt Campbell, Jordan Casteel, and Bridget R. Cooks March 19

A female figure in a black burqa is set in a white space. Text in red reads "Masaawi Haqooq" in Urdu script.

Representing the Female Body

Take a closer look at two feminist artworks from the 1980s
by Lala Rukh and the Guerrilla Girls.

Kristin Plys March 8

Exhibition Tour—The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism

Join Dr. Denise M. Murrell, Merryl H. and James S. Tisch Curator at Large in The Met’s Director's Office, for a virtual tour of the groundbreaking exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism.

Denise Murrell March 7

Black and white image of the actor Charlie Chaplin dressed as the tramp, a white man in overalls in this scenario and a mustache where he is trapped between massive factory cogs that he is riding while also trying to tighten the bolts with both of his hands at the same time.

A More Perfect Union: American Political Art of the 1930s

The scholar Max Fraser considers how the Great Depression spurred a decade of art influenced by leftist politics.

Molly Morrow Sep 22, 2023

Colorful print of two workers drilling at the ground in front of an industrial construction setting.

The Art of the Great Depression

How did a decade of unprecedented financial strife, radical social upheaval, and technological innovation shape art and cultural identity in the United States?

Allison Rudnick Sep 18, 2023

A Self-Portrait painting by the African American Painter Horace Pippin. A Black man sits against a blue background from his shoulders up looking directly towards us with deep brown eyes. He is wearing a black suit, off-white yellowish suit, and a striped tie with brown and a golden-mustard yellow.

Considering Horace Pippin

How has art history overlooked the crucial role disability played in Pippin's painting?

Bryan Martin Jul 26, 2023

Giddens: At the Purchaser’s Option / Okpebholo: “oh freedom” from Songs in Flight

Composer Shawn Okpebholo and Duke University professor Dr. Tsitsi Ella Jaji bring individual stories to life through song.

Jul 12, 2023

Lo Tatou Seiana: Our Flowering, Our Time

Dan Taulapapa McMullin muses on colonialism, queer mythologies, and activism in the Pacific Islands.

Dan Taulapapa McMullin Jun 21, 2023

The screen depicts four people on a video call with each other.

Art and Activism: Environmental Protection and Contemporary Indigenous Art

Join featured artists and the curator of the exhibitions “Water Memories” and “Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection” for a conversation exploring the significance of water to diverse Indigenous peoples and Nations in the United States, as expressed through historical, modern, and contemporary art. Delve into the artists’ artistic processes while examining the ongoing work to protect water and land, aesthetic activism, and the unique challenges contemporary Indigenous artist-activists face.

Jun 12, 2023

Detail of the pamphlet for the Act Up Art Box, with the participating artists names and places where one could find the objects on view

A Short History of the ACT UP Art Box

"ACT UP felt like a collision of creativity, political fervor, and justifiable anger..."

Peter Antony Jun 7, 2023