Art as Resistance 

By Lisa Manganiello 

Across different mediums and historical contexts, women have always used art as a means of challenging dominant power structures and articulating alternative ways of being. From art on a page, to the canvas, to sculptures of bodies, here are four women whose artistic work exemplifies how art can be a powerful tool for resistance and change. 

1. Mary Ann Shadd 

Mary Ann Shadd broke barriers with the power of the printed word. Born in October 1823 to free Black parents in Wilmington, Delaware, Shadd became the first Black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. At a time when Black voices were deliberately excluded from public discourse, Shadd founded The Provincial Freeman, a newspaper advocating for abolition, education and self-reliance among Black communities. Through Shadd’s direction, the newspaper was transformed into a powerful instrument of liberation, actively encouraging Black readers to assert their rights, demand fair treatment and pursue legal action when necessary. The Provincial Freeman was even calling out institutions Shadd viewed as complicit in injustice in a time when it was considered taboo to do so.  

2. Florence Nightingale 

Though also best known as the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale (born May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy) was a trailblazer in data visualization, transforming raw statistics into compelling and accessible graphics. Her “Coxcomb” charts, a modification of traditional pie charts, worked to expose inefficiencies in British military hospitals during the Crimean War by visually demonstrating that most soldier deaths were caused not by battle wounds but by preventable diseases linked to poor sanitation. Ultimately, her work through these charts helped lead to reforms in both hygiene and hospital practices. By presenting complex data in a clear and striking visual form, she made the consequences impossible to ignore, compelling government officials to acknowledge the human toll of unsanitary conditions and to take action to improve public health infrastructure. 

3. Ana Mendieta 

Born in Havana on November 18, 1948, Cuban-American artist, Ana Mendieta, used her own body as both canvas and subject, in work that explored exile, identity and violence against women. In her Body Tracks series, she drags blood-covered hands down gallery walls to create smeared, visceral impressions, a haunting response to the erasure and violation of women throughout history. In a world where female bodies are constantly policed, Mendieta’s use of her body in public became a statement of presence, power and reclamation.  

4. Ursula K. Le Guin 

Through imagined worlds and speculative futures, Ursula K. Le Guin (born October 21, 1929 in California, United States) transformed what science fiction and fantasy could do — not just as genres, but as tools for social critique. In novels like The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin does not simply craft otherworldly narratives; she uses them to challenge entrenched ideas about gender, power and economic systems. Writing within genres long dominated by male voices and militarized tropes, Le Guin made space for more fluid, cooperative, and non-hierarchical visions of society. Her cosmic worlds were grounded in anthropology and feminist thought, offering radical alternatives to capitalism, patriarch, and binary thinking. Le Guin’s work reminds us that resistance can begin with an idea, an imagination of a world governed by mutual care, not domination. 

Together, these women demonstrate how beyond being a mere vehicle for expression or escape, art can be a powerful catalyst for resistance, truth-telling and transformation. Each of these women were using their respective mediums to not only confront dominant systems, but to ignite the imagination of alternatives that could exist beyond them.