Saturday was a windy, blustery kind of day. I am taking care of jenny-dog (a beautiful and very happy, energetic collie-newfoundland cross) while my parents are out of province visiting my father's sister. We (Tracie, Jenny-dog and I) had a romping adventure through the river valley from McKernan to the Old Strathcona farmer's market in the morning.
I replenished my stock of tasty kim-chee and picked up some greens for supper and walking home I was all excited to go to the 2:30PM talk (so I thought) led by Ian Mulder an Edmonton based artist. I left jenny-dog with a cuddle and walked up to the UofA , after forgetting the path through the construction which seems a permanent part of campus I arrived to find I was so late that the session was almost over because it was actually a 2:00PM session. I was just in time however on the tail end to see some beautiful graffiti shots gathered from around the world.
It was a conference session called Activist, Citizen and Street Art and the wee bit I listened to was about people actively living and changing the world immediately around them. As Mr. Mulder says, public space and public art are often necessarily liability-driven, not biting the hand that feeds you, or gives the arts grant reason to carry on and carry out your artistic vision.
Or not. Public art is layered in motivations and methods. The artist is most often anonymous even when it is a mainstream sponsored piece. And definitely so in the darker, shadowy side of street art where the artist may only be infamous.
For me, street art is often like an information directory of who lives where, what they are curious and interested in and what they want you to know about them. Sometimes that message is "I'm bored." Sometimes it's High Pride and sometimes it is pain and questioning. In public art, as Mr. Mulder says, you have to open to it being bad, or beautiful, or ugly. I agree because the point is that it is there and in telling the world.
So,if esteem and recognition may not be the key factors for activist art the importance I think lies in the action wanted from the audience. The act of engaging is by itself very political and the Power of Art is in our ability to influence what our space looks like and this can be a citizen act. This can take many forms from community planted parks like in McKernan to spray painted stencil art or community murals. Though look further next time you go past an act of citizenry and consider the message, energy, thought and preparation that went into it to complete the relative quick process of its actualization.
Take Care
Love, Ruth
~Life is Mad Love! Das Leben ist wütende Liebe! La vida es amor enojado! La vie est amour fol! La vita è amore pazzo!
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