Art is not supposed to change the world, to change practical things, but to change perceptions. Art can change the way we see the world. Art can create an analogy.

JR distinguishes between direct, instrumental change (policy, material conditions) and the subtler work he assigns to art: shifting perception. In this view, art’s power lies in reframing what viewers notice, empathize with, or consider possible—an especially apt claim for an artist known for large-scale public portraits that interrupt everyday urban space. By “create an analogy,” he suggests art operates through metaphor and comparison rather than instruction: it makes one situation legible through another, prompting audiences to rethink social realities without prescribing a single practical outcome. The quote thus defends art’s civic value while resisting the demand that it function as immediate activism or utility.