The Importance of Art in Difficult Times
Traveling Alone - During, 2022, Digital. Jacob Motl.
Few people never experience at least one difficult time in their life. I'd argue that everyone faces hardship in some way and at some point during their time on Earth - be it divorce, financial trouble, health issues, or worse.
Today marks two weeks since the Russian military invaded Ukraine. I'm a bit of a history buff, so I've been closely following this event. It's historic. It's also, of course, incredibly tragic.
As news outlets are saying, an event such as this has not happened since WWII. An accurate claim for sure, but there are also distinct - and significant - differences, most notably television and internet. I obviously wasn't around when Poland was invaded in 1939, but I can't help imagine that it was some far-off event to us Americans: overseas, on other soil, in a land not our own and happening to people we neither knew nor could see.
But that's not the case anymore. We have television, internet, and social media. We can see those affected by difficult times. Heck, it’s likely we even know someone or know someone who knows someone experiencing this tragedy. I certainly do.
They are real people who, just over two weeks ago, had jobs, school, studies, chores, errands, dates, friends, families, homes - just like us. And we now have the ability to truly understand that they are real people - just like us - thanks to the technology we have. We are no longer beholden to tragedy through the media's lens; we can see through the peoples' eyes. With a little humility, we can place ourselves in their shoes in an effort to understand a small fraction of what they're experiencing. Their difficult times.
But what does art have to do with... any of this? Well, in a sense, a great deal. Art is borne from the human experience. It is personal, social, cultural, political - any and all of these.
Historically, great art comes from great experience (keeping in mind that "great" can mean good OR bad). The music of Beethoven is an excellent example. He was a passionate man who experienced great tragedy in his life when he became deaf. The difficult times he faced throughout his life bred great music, such as the famed Moonlight Sonata and Symphony no. 9. Beethoven's music - his art - continues to reach people some 200 years later.
Looking at the written word, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (published in 1906) is a commentary on conditions of immigration and industrialization in the early 1900’s. The themes remain relevant today, highlighting the difficult times that workers experience if they don't advocate for their rights.
Pablo Picasso's Guernica from 1937 is one of his most famous paintings with an unquestionable anti-war commentary. The painting depicts the Spanish town of Guernica as it was bombed by the Nazi's in 1937. A great painting from a difficult time.
Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki premiered Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima in 1961, titling the piece after hearing it performed. The work's abstraction echoes the chaotic, grotesque, and tragic realities of the bombing of Hiroshima at the end of WWII.
In the past two weeks since the Russian military invaded Ukraine, I've already seen powerful political art about the aggression. I’m sure some of you have as well. I can't help but think of the art and the artists who will emerge from this historical moment. Not only Ukrainian artists, but Russian artists, Polish artists, Moldovan artists, Belarusian artists, Romanian, Hungarian, Slovakian, Hungarian artists - the everyday people who are bearing the brunt of this tragedy, who can only truly express their feelings through painting or dance or poetry or music.
It's healthy. It's cathartic. It's important to create art, especially in these difficult times.
-Jacob
