The Death of Emancipatory Social Work as Art and Birth of Socially Engaged Art Practice

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The growth of socially engaged art practice over the last decade is considered in light of the relationship between social work, art, and social change. The question posed is ‘has social work – caught in neoliberal paternalism – given way to socially engaged art as a medium of social change?’ The paper argues that, as social workers have vacated public spaces of activism and change, so artists have moved in to fill the void and suggests there has never been a better time to reinvigorate critical social work and its emancipatory potential.