Chapter 4 quotes
"At the same time, the Culture we produce necessarily arises from the everyday culture in which we live. This is why it’s so important to be self-aware of our own cultures that influence our creations, and why our murals and performances will be more effective when the ideals and imagery they depict are generated by the community itself, using signs, symbols, stories, and values that are true to the people that comprise it. "
This quote is important because it enforces the importance of not operating within your own echo chamber when crating art to represent or influence a culture. We have to consider our own bias and experience that might be influencing the way we reflect our own culture or try to speak to another culture through art. It is important to be well informed of the struggles and victories of said culture and to really draw from the experiences of the people living it.
"As artistic activists, we can choose tactics that hold up a mirror to things that people either cannot or do not want to see: lives locked away behind prison walls,wars in distant countries, or abstract forces like endemic poverty or structural racism. Here, our task is to make the invisible visible,drawing attention to the world as it is and demanding that people first notice reality, and then (hopefully) change it."
This is the part of the great thing about art activism. It has a unique potential to be able to draw someone in and pay attention to an issue that would otherwise not be presented right in their face. It has a way of confronting the viewer with information and making them think. This could be to consider the conditions and challenges of people very different from them, or it could also be presenting an idea in a creative new way that expands the viewers perspective and hopefully brings awareness and eventually change or action.
Sean Leonardo
" This is infiltrated and influenced by social media and the sort of commotion and chaos of the news cycle: we feel compelled to act, act, act—to respond, respond, respond—and artists don’t operate best in that rhythm. Artists need to take in, to process, to decipher, to separate from the noise and create things that are beautiful and impactful to the spirit. Artists have to offer a different type of slowness to work against the speed of today."
This resonated with me because I often feel as if we are bombarded with so much sensory information in one day and it is the reason why so many of us are stressed and burnt out. I think most people, like artists, would do best to be able to process the events of the world with more clarity if we were not constantly reacting to something. For an artist to create something that is true to themselves, they must be able to clearly hear their own voice and be able to convey it without allowing themselves to be dragged and manipulated by the views of others.
"Most important, I think, was whenever I saw a master, codified “master,” at the Metropolitan Museum. Somehow, I [don’t] recall ever being dissuaded [by the fact] that those “masters” were all dead white men. I found myself seeing these “great artworks” and believing I could achieve that."
I found this quote interesting because for a very long time, the success of older white men was the standard success story everyone witnessed and accepted without questioning how much they deserved it or worked for it. Now that we are seeing much more diversity in the groups of people that are able to be recognized for their talents and achievements, this changes the narrative for so many others who can visualize themselves becoming the masters as well. This artiest was able to see past that and he is now an example for others who might need to see someone that looks like more like themselves in order to feel it is possible to achieve their dreams. By not allowed himself to be limited by not having examples that were just like him, he has broken a mold and made a new one that more than just one group can aspire to.
Raise your hand if
you have ever toned yourself down to feel accepted
If you have ever felt like you don't belong somewhere you wanted to be
if someone assumed something about you based on your appearance
if you've ever felt too visible
if you've ever felt left out
if you've ever felt like the only one like you in a group
Look around- you might feel alone, but you are not!
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