Art has always been a means for expressing the human condition, a space for exploring one’s thoughts on the nature of our world. In a country so split by political values, political art has been especially important for understanding the discourse and finding ways to create solutions.

Kay O’Rourke, an artist based in Spokane, knows this well, spending much of her career creating stories through her paintings.

“I’m a narrative artist, and I’ve been doing it since the day I was born, but I didn’t really think I was an artist,” O’Rourke said.

After attending art classes at Gonzaga University, O’Rourke explained how the art department took her under their wing and gave her the tools to consider the world in a different way. Both of her sons and her grandkids were Zags too.

Since then, the way that O’Rourke approaches complicated issues through her art has changed as the controversial topics that dictate political conversations changed too.

“During the Vietnam War, I did a lot of paintings because I was against the war,” O’Rourke said. “For me it is the way that I go to try and figure out what I’m feeling and what’s happening. I would say that at that younger point in my life I was way more careful, now I’m not.”

With current politics, O’Rourke said that a lot of her political art pieces center around Donald Trump.

“When he was first elected I was so against him, and I ended up doing paintings because I despised the man,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke said that, for her, paintings are the best way to explore and explain the way that she feels about politics and that she hopes her work incites dialogue across the aisle.

“I don’t want to be doing political signs, anybody can do that,” O’Rourke said. “I’ve found that by doing a painting that hints at things sometimes has a greater impact on people than if you were to talk about it.”

Ildikó Kalapács is another political artist that has been active in Spokane, after studying visual art at Eastern Washington University. After having grown up in Hungary, Kalapács’ views on political art reflect her global background.

“I do not regard myself as a dictator of values through my art,” Kalapács said. “I do not necessarily see my artworks as objects, but results of processes which might have certain impact on people: Positive, negative or indifferent. I let people interpret the images in their own ways.”

Kalapács further explained the importance of understanding her work through that international lens.

“I consider myself more of a humanist,” Kalapács said. “If my art is political in some sense, it is progressively political, based on an uncompromising value system I hold dear due to my background growing up in an orthodox political system where dissent was crushed, including the arts.”

To a certain extent, both Kalapács and O’Rourke talked about the value in their own personal perspectives in their pieces.

“The best thing I’ve learned in life is that my paintings I do for myself, and when I do them for others they’re not very good," O’Rourke said. "If you’re really a good artist you have to just be yourself and always know that there’s always going to be somebody that doesn’t like what you do.”

Despite experiencing some “scary” backlash from extreme MAGA supporters, O’Rourke she is unwavering in her resolve to continue speaking out since this election is so important to the futures for so many Americans.

“I don’t remember the hate that we’re experiencing now,” O’Rourke said. “I don’t know whether it was something that was just meant to finally happen, but I do believe that Donald Trump and some of the people with him encouraged it.”

With only a month left, O’Rourke said she still is still trying to make a difference. With Trump as a recurring political character for America the last few years, O'Rourke says her style and content has repeating themes and characters, too.

"What's interesting about [my] paintings is that they're as current today as when I first did them," O'Rourke said.