Abstract: The capacity of artistic works to speak directly to the emotions – to move us in one way or another – is a critical consideration in determining how an experience is to be represented and who should do the representation. When significant groups are left out of the national story, or when some groups dominate the storytelling, distortion is a likely result. But the distortion is not only of the past experience; it continues to influence the present and the future. It perpetuates harm. A powerful response to this harm comes from those who have been left out or whose experience has been distorted. Protest art serves to penetrate and challenge these distortions.