I think that the titled question is a tricky one. Still, I will try to answer this question and write my thoughts regarding art and its impact on the world.
Art by itself, can change the world, but not in enormous quantity. Luckily, art can change humans’ attitude towards life. Thus, I believe that art can change the world indirectly by changing people. Thanks to artistry, people can change relations towards other people and their surroundings. I am not an exception. Thanks to photography, writing, creating subsequent editions of “Diaries,” or collections of images (e.g., “Negation of the End,” “Birds,” “Ostensible Abstraction,” or “Death”) I changed. I became a more sensitive, creative, and happier person. Thanks to the broadly defined creation process, I opened my mind to many new dimensions hidden deep in my psyche.
Moreover, I do believe that my works of art also changed relationships between viewers and their surroundings.
Of course, artworks (e.g., Old Masters’ paintings) can change the world by themselves. How? For example, paintings created a new market (let’s call it Art Market) where there is a vast turnover. The fact is that art has already become a tool, thanks to which many people can become rich. I think that it is one of the examples that art in itself can, indeed, change the world.
Still, I believe that the crucial factor is that art changes people in various ways. Art can teach us many things, including, e.g., sensibility or self-discipline. It broadens peoples’ horizons in many aspects of their lives. Also, artistry can help develop our state of mind. This is how art is, indeed, changing the world indirectly. I believe that the more people will open their eyes and mind on art, the sooner the world become the better place to live, for every one of us.
