This article follows a reception study of the militant art exhibition “Témoigner pour Agir” (2017-2018). To better understand the social and subversive actions deployed by public testimonial in its artistic form, exhibition visitors’ responses are put in dialogue with that of an exploratory conceptual analysis of three of the artworks presented. The analysis is based on feminist philosopher Sara Ahmed’s theorizations of affect, a sociopolitical definition of emotions that allows for thinking about their role in the consolidation of social norms and inequalities as well as in their transformation. Making visible, shocking the public, and showing the way to inclusion and recognition appear as social actions with the potential to reach publics in a different way, i.e. against the current. Finally, the analysis of the intervention through artistic testimonials contributes to a broader reflection on the role of emotions in the field of social work.