Art as Activism as a Blog Post
By Michael Boyle ‘18
On the surface, “art” and “activism” feel as if they could conflict with one another. Activism has a specific goal rooted in the real world and often brushes up against the uglier side of humanity. Art, on the other hand, is about boundless creative expression, often depicting beauty. Yet at their cores, the artist and the activist are quite similar people. Both are deeply passionate about their emotionally involving work. So the question becomes, how does someone exist as both an artist and and activist? Last Sunday, at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, I attended a panel that answered this very question.
The panel, entitled “Art as Activism: Contemporary Art and Social Engagement” was moderated by Amelia Jones, the vice dean of critical studies at USC’s Roski School of Art and Design. She kicked off the panel by briefly discussing the way art has historically been tied to politics. She then traced the history of politically motivated art until reaching modern day in which art and activism often become one and the same. Each guest was then given to opportunity to introduce herself.
First up, Nao Bustamante discussed her own history. Her career has included everything from appearances on Joan River’s television show to adapting a screenplay from cinema master Sergei Eisenstein. A clip from that film, entitled “Solderara,” was then screened for the audience.
Up next was Erin Silver. While Bustamante focused more on her artistic side, Silver preferred to shed light on her activist roots. She dropped out of school at 19 and become involved with unionizing bookstores. She also shared a theory that most activists are intrinsically tied to the decade they are born into. Therefore, as a child from the 80s who witnessed the AIDS crisis, Silver feels a special attachment to the feminist and queer movements.
Finally, Jennifer West introduced her own activist art work, centered around the medium of experimental film. She is particularly tied to the physical medium of film even as the rest of the movie industry moves towards using exclusively digital. She likes to treat actual film stock with various substances in order to enrich the physical experience of viewing the finished film. However, she was sure to stress that many of her films, even while experimenting with formal elements, were focused on creating social consciousness.
After the panelists spoke, a question and answer session began. It became clear that those who were quickest to raise their hands were far more concerned with the “activism” aspect of “art as activism.” One woman angrily asked why the panel was using single-use plastic bottles, while another man simply stated his views on recent political issues. However, it is a testament to what a great moderator Amelia Jones was that she was able to take the random statements made by this man and transition into an interesting question about the difference between traditional protests and artistic protests.
Yet, Ms. Jones was not required to do all the work with some audience members asking thoroughly engaging questions. One man in particular asked about how he could integrate political ideas into a play he is producing on the dollar of individuals who would like to stay away from making political statements. The responses from the panelists were enlightening, with conversations springing up about shrouding politics in metaphor and finding other sources of money to avoid compromising. In the end, the responses to the questions (and statements) served as a wonderful reminder that art and activism are separate entities, but the individuals who are able to masterfully bring them together really are incredibly talented.
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