The criticism that art activism is problematic because it trivializes political struggle is important. I think those of us in the queer community are all too familiar with our struggles being used as a trendy and oversimplified subject matter in the arts. However, this kind of art needs to be distinguished by art that springs from political conversations within individuals, communities and movements. Art by, for and of the people has been and continues to be a powerful revolutionary force. The additional argument that contemporary art, and potentially activist art, turns the living present in the dead, abstract past is also important and not just an theoretical concern. The transformation of living indigenous art and culture into generalized, trendy aspects of pop culture has been used to construct indigenous culture as dead, defeated, and colonized: old and new western movies. Putting native art in natural history museums. Forever 21 tribal clothes. One of the results of these collective moves to aestheticize indigenous art is that there are people alive today who think that Native America is extinct and not a living, breathing group of peoples and cultures. Both of these arguments against activist art point to art as an external. But this kind of art isnt universal or absolute. It is the cultural heir to the French Revolutions transformation of the old regimes functional objects into purely aesthetic objects, as the article discusses, and I say that is all it is heir to. The article aggressively argues that contemporary art cant escape this heritage, but it forgets, as discussions of contemporary art usually do, that this is only true for European conceptions of art. There always has been and continues to be art in indigenous, diaspora, and minority populations all over the world that functions, creates, heals, moves, and fights. When art springs from within individual and collective struggle, it is powerful and necessary. The artist who points to their struggle of the struggle of their people isnt exploiting. They are honoring their identity and responsibility as artists and human beings. This is the art I stand for and aspire to create: art that doesnt look back or down, but art that lifts up.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 22:11:35 +0000
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