We Make Each Other Beautiful focuses on woman-of-color and queer-of-color artists and artist collectives who engage in direct political action as a part of their art practice. Defined by public protest, rule-breaking, rebellion, and resistance to governmental and institutional abuse, direct action "artivism" draws on the aims, radical spirit, and tactics of the Civil Rights and feminist movements, and on the struggles for disability rights, queer rights, and immigrant rights to seek legal and social change.

Yxta Maya Murray traces the development of artivism as a practice from the Harlem Renaissance to Yoko Ono, Judy Baca, and Marsha P. Johnson. She also studies its role in transforming law and society. We Make Each Other Beautiful profiles the work and lives of five contemporary artivists (Carrie Mae Weems, Young Joon Kwak, Tanya Aguiniga, Imani Jacqueline Brown, and the Drawn Together collective), combining new oral histories with sharp analyses of how their diverse and expansive artistic practices bear important aesthetic and politicolegal meanings that address a wide range of injustices.