Let’s support artists who are society’s critics, even when—especially when—we don’t agree with them. Let’s enter a conversation with potentially dangerous art, especially when its themes are social justice. The National Endowment for the Arts has all sorts of safeguards to protect the public from artists who make people nervous. And we all remember the Dixie Chicks–W. censorship fiasco. Not all artists are, or want to be, controversial. But let’s support the handful giving society a well-deserved poke (remember Goya?). Solution: We launch the Texas Troublemaker Awards, for artists with important but controversial subject matter.
Vargas is a photographer in San Antonio.
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