Creative Expression...Freedom

Creative expression—whether in the visual, performing, literary, or film arts—has always served as a barometer of a society’s health and development as a nation, particularly under the guise of freedom of expression. Societies that value diverse voices, cultures, experiences, and histories foster growth and understanding. However, those who fear the arts and their messages often resort to distortion, using it as a tool to attack and ultimately suppress both the artist and their work. The destruction of the medium is often the first indicator to a society treading the path to fascism. Fascism leaves no room for dissenting points of view and the rules are governed by one person. Art as a medium allows freedom of expression and creates a place of truth. The first step is to kill the arts or refashion it to meet the needs of the fascist, control!  We have seen how Fascism plays out in the Arts if you have read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Orwell 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, you know. And for those who haven't read any of these satirical comedies and or tragedy. The great trilogies of Shakespeare are just one example but the adage of  “life imitates art” we can see in modern trilogies such as Saturday Night Live, Kendrick La Mar, and popular culture. The power of the Arts demonstrated in ethnographic expressions such as the lyrics of Rap and Hip Hop, the movements of African Dance, and messages of freedom designed in Slave Quilts, the God talk of liberation in Gospel tunes…all depiction of culture and history, that serve as a respiratory of our common humanity. Art is the heart of a nation, and a form of resistance. 

The dismantling of our national cultural institutions based on ideological misconceptions is as much a disservice to the artistic medium as it is to the people who create, labor, engage, and even critique it. Government censoring art is a form of fascism, most recently the concern of Amy Sherald’s exhibit slated to open at the Smithsonian in September pulled by the artist due to the threat of censorship (more in my next blog). Regardless of personal preference, the arts remain an essential part of a larger national tapestry—one that consists of diverse communities.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Art and the Smithsonian which consist of the African American Museum, American Women’s History, The Native American Museum and Holocaust Memorial all spaces and places created as tools of visual learning and history for the world and of course Americans to learn in perpetuity, the people’s truth. To issue an Executive order under the guise of “improper ideology” and attempt to deny, no annihilate, genocide another people’s history is an abomination to the God’s creation. These places are created to impart a knowledge about humanity and our glory and our wickedness, museums don’t always make us feel good but they give us a glimpse of truth. We are now in 90 days of inauguration and hundreds of years of reality are being dismantled. But as strange as this may sound, these blatant acts of human disregard and cultural disregard that include everything, but White males is one that will ultimately call humans to our higher selves which is not the goal of the dismantling of other cultures and experiences. These acts will ultimately unite humans and they will strengthen us as Americans. Our fellow human being’s humanity be taken. It won’t be easy but it will happen or as Michelle Obama stated, “when they go low, we go high”, high is tapping into our highest humanity our deep web of empathy and living into our Creator’s greatest gift EMPATHY.

#emphathy

#smithsonian

#Amy Sherald

#John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts