Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna Village (Luxor, Egypt, 1940s–50s) arose from anger at Egypt’s rural housing crisis. Using local materials and traditional methods, Fathy offered a humane alternative that continues to inspire socially conscious architecture. Photo by Hubert Guillaud, World Monuments Fund. Used with permission.

Anger as a Spark

Anger has always been a catalyst for change.

• It rises the moment someone threatens what you love.
• It fuels the poem you shout from a stage, the mural you paint overnight, the dance you refuse to contain.

For many artists, anger is the spark, the jolt that says enough is enough.

But sparks are not fires. They flare, they ignite, and then they need creativity to sustain them.

Across disciplines, anger has launched unforgettable works:

Billie Holiday at the Downbeat, New York City, circa Feb. 1947. Her haunting rendition of Strange Fruit confronted racial violence head-on. Photo by William P. Gottlieb. Public domain.

Music

Strange Fruit (1939) forced the nation to face racial terror.

Before Holiday sang it, lynching was too often met with silence; her performance gave the nation a chilling, unforgettable soundtrack.

Inside the Bread and Puppet Museum, Glover, Vermont, displays puppets, masks and banners central to the theater’s politically charged performances. Image by Bread and Puppet Theater, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

Theater

Bread and Puppet Theater (1963–present) used giant puppets and pageantry to channel anger at war, consumerism and state violence.

Their street performances turned private dissent into public spectacle, giving communities a collective stage to voice outrage.

Picasso, Guernica (1937), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Guernica channels the horror of civilian bombing into universal protest. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Visual Art

Guernica captured civilian suffering in a regional tragedy and transformed it into a global symbol of antiwar anger.

Until then, the atrocity in Guernica, Spain, was a regional tragedy. Picasso’s canvas transformed it into an international emblem of antiwar anger.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Revelations (1960) channels anger and sorrow into resilience and faith. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Dance

Revelations transformed collective grief into a universal message of hope and strength.

Ailey offered audiences a way to see Black experience not as invisible or marginal, but as central, defiant and profoundly moving.

Audre Lorde’s essay “The Uses of Anger” appears in Sister Outsider (1984), urging women to confront racism within feminist movements. Published by Crossing Press.

Literature

The Uses of Anger (1981) reframed rage as a tool for justice.

Lorde’s words amplified the anger of women of color, long dismissed by others, and affirmed it as a powerful, necessary force for change.

Where Do You See Yourself?

I had an intense emotional reaction to the November 5, 2025, US presidential election. I knew it could chill arts and culture.

Artists have a uniquely potent role in responding to authoritarianism, often beyond the reach of organizations constrained by bureaucracy or legal risks. Individually, we can act swiftly, symbolically and viscerally. We can reveal truths, challenge narratives and galvanize communities.

My anger inspired Abbetuck.

Where do you see anger in your own creative practice?

• Share Your Spark ✍️

Randall White
Abbetuck

👉 Coming next: The Many Faces of Arts Activism – Part 2: Joy as Resistance (Wed, Aug 27, 2025). Share with friends or colleagues and invite them to subscribe for free. The more voices we bring into the conversation, the richer arts activism becomes.