Ava DuVernay is an American filmmaker, writer, and producer known for work that explores race, justice, and social change. In 2019, TIME invited her to guest-edit its second special Optimists issue. Though struggling with despair herself, she accepted and centered the issue on art as “an antidote for our times” and a catalyst for connection and progress.

Six years later, as our culture feels even more divided—marked by rigid beliefs, the erosion of science and journalism, and the stripping away of humanity—her message is even more urgent. She contends that art can spark hope by awakening the optimism within us.

The essays and stories she curated—from Joy Buolamwini on AI bias, Laverne Cox on Black brilliance, Guillermo del Toro on radical optimism, and Darren Walker on the radical hope in the arts—invite us to engage not through fear or division, but through shared knowledge, recognition, and joy.

“I weighed my own feelings of despair and doubt against the idea of reveling in an experience dedicated to optimism. The choice was easy. I wanted to explore the other side. And so, working on this issue with the stellar team at TIME helped me to remember a simple truth: that prioritizing hope whenever possible is a brave and bold thing to do. In that way, this issue is a gift to me, a necessary reminder to grasp joy with both arms and embrace it like a great love.”

WEBSITE: The Art of Optimism