Photographer Dorothea Lang used her art for the betterment of society. Her photographs raised public awareness to the plight of over 200,000 migrants devastated by the Dust Bowl of 1931 and forced the government to intervene on their behalf.
Honore Daumer, the nineteenth century painter and caricaturist, portrayed the inequality of French society and the corruption of the law by a bloated and incompetent government. Paintings like The Washerwoman illustrated the daily struggle of the common man and united a nation desperate for change. More famous than Ingres, Daumer was heralded for his honesty and his desire to help those less fortunate.
Commissioned as an official war artist, famed sculptor Henry Moore created powerful drawings of Londoners seeking shelter from the blitz in London's Underground during World War Two. His sketches afforded the world a glimpse of British life under attack and were extremely popular in the United States. Many believe his work helped persuade Americans to enter the war and helped end the bombing of London. Henry Moore used his talent to stop oppression and suffering. He was given the opportunity to report events and to tell the truth and he made a difference.
We are now offering that same opportunity to artists in Philadelphia: to stop oppression and suffering. One hour from the City of Brotherly Love, thousands of dogs languish in the infamous Puppy Mills of Lancaster County, where the factory farming of millions of puppies have made the fortunes of men and women oblivious to the pain of the animals they imprison. You can help them.
Above: "Rejoyce," 2007. A portrait of pawprints of actual puppies from puppy mills, arranged to create the face of infamous puppy mill owner Joyce Stoltzfus, whose mills have been under public scrutiny since the mid-1980s.