Art Museum of the Americas’ current exhibit The Ripple Effect: Currents of Socially Engaged Art is, at one level, eclectic. There are videos and computer projections, sculptures and photography, textiles and terrariums.

The works of art also address a variety of social issues: economic struggles, immigration issues, pollution, gun violence. There are, additionally, spaces in which artists ask people to fill in the blanks, to express whatever they are contending with.

Nevertheless, there are some commonalities among works of art:

Something Out of Nothing by Olivier Giron and Palas por Pistolas by Pedro Reyes both reinvent objects and address environmental issues. Giron spent time at an illegal dumping site, turning abandoned car parts into planters. The poignant Palas por Pistolas comes from a project in which people turned in their weapons (in exchange for coupons to save money on electronics), and the weapons were recast into shovels. With these…