I am neither an artist nor an activist, though sometimes I wish that I had more of both in me. What I am is a story teller. I believe that a story, well told, can open minds, gently and cause us to explore new ideas, revisit old ones and ultimately bring about change. When it comes to art and activism, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

Too often, when we are upset about something - or even just confused - people like me will use to many words and just muddy up the issues, offending some people, enraging others, inspiring a few. But every now and then, an artist will come along and provide a few salient images that do the job just perfectly.

Take artist Paul Strong, for instance, and his recent Camera Head Project in Seattle's Cal Anderson Park. On Saturday July 26, 10 citizens dressed in suits with large cameras instead of heads, quietly strolled through this public park positioning themselves in front of people who were just minding their own business - eating lunch, reading a book, kissing a lover on a bench in the sun.

The idea was simply to make people aware of the fact that, in this park, their every move is being recorded. That, according to the Camera Heads web site, "As the use of technology increases the data about our daily habits and even visual images of who we are becomes more and more accessible by more and more people. We have to keep setting limits to protect our personal liberties before it becomes too late."

When asked why an art project rather than a traditional protest, Strong answered, "I am more of an artist than activist. The two just happened to cross with this project. I put this together under a film permit, and did it as performance art rather than a protest. The art world is where my comfort level lies. I don't like protests as an action, I typically ignore them when I see them even if I agree."

Indeed, it's that "in your face" yelling of many traditional protests that sometimes causes people to look away and shut it out rather than thinking and engaging. But it's hard to ignore a 6-foot tall camera breathing down your neck. Kinda makes you think!

And thinking was the point. He just wanted people to think about eroding privacy, talk about it, and draw their own conclusions. In Strong's words, "Dialog and discussion is much more important than agreement or disagreement."

It can be very interesting when that dialog and discussion is started in unexpected places. Like Public parks. Or like the lobby of a major advertising agency in New York.

Take, for instance the Yo! Peace project that is currently hanging at the offices of Ogilvy and Mather in New York City, through September 18, 2008. Yo! Peace is a semi nomadic collection of works by a variety of artists, all of which explore the subject matter of peace. According to their web site, "An exhibition of contemporary pro-peace, anti-war & anti-occupation posters, designed to spread the message of non-violence and showcase the beauty of hand-crafted printing."

To me, there's something lovely about these images hanging in an institution that embodies the kind of modern commercialism and materialism that many people blame for creating problems. The mere coexistence of these ideals creates the room to discuss how and why we believe what we believe. Was this war marketed to us like all those products whose marketing was also born of Madison Avenue offices? Can war, art, peace, commercialism all peacefully coexist?

For me, it's enough to pose the question, create the dialog, and let people come to their own conclusion. No yelling, no riots, no destruction. Just those images worth so many words.

There is, of course, a long tradition of art as political protest, as a gentle activism, and it's worth noting that artistic images often continue to hang in galleries and on walls and in our minds, keeping the conversation alive. It makes me happy - even hopeful - to see peaceful demonstrations achieve artistic heights.