If art can be seen as an aesthetically way to please and entertain people, it can also be a form of power and expression, that artists take to have themselves heard. So, can art make a difference about an issue ?
First, the definition of art is basically : the making of objects, images, musics, etc, that are beautiful. We could therefore think the only goal of art is to be aesthetically pleasing. Think of a realistic painting of a landscape. It can be very pretty, but how could it deliver a message ? Well, actually, works of art that don't deliver any kind of message are very rare. Even fiction in litterature is a way to transpose reality in order to denounce some aspects of society. Take Harry Potter, for example. While some people see it as a childish story of magic, others can see it as a way to denounce child abuse, authoritarian regimes, the partiality of governments ... Nowadays, art almost always deliver a message and raise awarness about something, while being pleasing.
Some works of art raise awarness about things but their main goal may not be this. But there are some artists that really use their art to fight against an issue. It is the case of protest works (= oeuvres engagées). They can describe a crisis in many ways : writing, music, articles ... and painting. We can take the example of Guernica by Pablo Picasso. He painted the city devastated by the German bombing to show everyone how the conditions were : horrible. This painting denounced also the rise of fascism and nazism, which are really big issues.
Of course, no need to be Picasso to spread awareness about an issue. Actually, there is an example of accessible form of protest art that we see everyday in the streets : graffitis. Usually underestimated, street art can be a powerful way to convey a message : it's simple and striking, we see it everyday, and it can be very multifaceted. Who has never seen a sentence about the government or the news spraypainted on a wall ? In France, we can take the example of the "gilets jaunes" which made waves, or the messages against violence/rape on women.
In conclusion, I would say that nowadays art mainly convey messages in order to raise awareness about issues. Of course, it's not the art itself that resolves the problem but if it denounces it, people will see it and understand that we must fight against it. The more people know the issue, the more it can be resolved faster, and art is an excellent way to make people see the issues in our society.
