It is a large canvas in tones of black and white, every inch crowded with figures that look both realistic and fantastical: men wearing skull masks, soldiers with guns, a row of Muslim clerics. In the foreground a man holds his hands over his ears, his mouth wide open in a scream. The painting is called “Bara Solidaritas: Sekarang Mereka, Besok Kita”, Indonesian for “The Flame of Solidarity: First They Came for Them, Then They Came for Us.”

The artist, Aris Prabawa, borrowed the traditional, crowded-canvas black-and-white Batuan style of Balinese art to express the horror of U.S.-backed bloodshed in his own country and others.

Prabawa is a member Taring Padi, one of several Indonesian art collectives that decry the western ideal of the individualistic and competitive artist and instead emphasize mutual support and collaboration to convey messages about social and environmental crises. Besides painting, the Taring Padi artists work with woodcuts, puppetry, masks, street theater, and techno music.

A recent article in the independent magazine In These Times points out that, although capitalistic art markets have tried to discredit it, collectivism has been the norm in cultures as diverse as Cherokee, Bantu, and Quechua. The author, Panthea Lee, asks: “In a world that keeps breaking our hearts, what can we learn about survival from communities that have long battled political, economic and ecological crises?”

One thing we can learn to do is welcome artistic contributions to the struggles we all share as we meet a world increasingly threatened by climate change and already staggering under countless local environmental and social challenges. Radical Joy for Hard Times members engage in a form of collectivist art when they gather for our annual Global Earth Exchange and on other occasions. After spending time at a place that has been paved over, mined, plowed, drained, or burned, we come together to make a gift for the place. Everyone joins in, whether or not they consider themselves “creative.” Each person scavenges the place to find a piece of wood, a wildflower, even a crushed soda can to contribute to the spontaneously forming group art.

Working collectively to make art is not a familiar project to most westerners. Let us get better at it by practicing as often as possible.