“Are you inherently an activist as an artist engaging with social issues?”

Today I find I am smacking myself over the head with this precise question. Am I an activist? Am I even an artist for that matter? Can I be one or the other at different times and still be both? My rather traditional materials (paint & canvas) have me questioning whether the way I make art is really relevant in a time where there is so much to be said in so so many ways. Would I even be an artist if I couldn’t paint? I paint because I love people and light and colour and the sloppiness and the clarity of it and the way something can suddenly appear out of chaos with a single, defining brushstroke.  It gets all personal energy  driven and cathartic process-centred and I suppose in a way, a bit selfish. And if I can’t do it for me and I’m doing it just to make a statement (even if that statement is “I am an artist”) then am I really, like really really an artist or am I just a loud-mouth with a brush? Can I be a selfish artist and an activist at the same time? My engagement with social issues comes out of my mouth (and usually, into my students’ ears!). My paintings come out of my fingertips. Are they really that separate when the source /centre of expression, experience and opinion is the same????