Personal is Political

Personal is Political

I think it is sad that ‘personal’ has to be political to gain the attention and the credit for works of art. However I do think that many marginalized groups had to get political to be heard.  Like Linda Nochlin states in her influential essay in 1971, “men had traditionally both defined the category “great” and ensured that women were effectively barred from entry” the ‘great white male’ had dominated the art world as well as all the rest and Feminist artists were using their art as activism. (Bird, 2012) Bird focuses all his attention on women and in particular the Feminist artists that paved a way for women and other groups to share the space and take their place as “Great” and worthy of entry.

I honestly don't know what the difference is between political and protest type art? Maybe protest art is directed more specifically toward creating a specific change or reaction. Either way, Im all for it! It takes a strong conviction to voice concern and guts to stand up and shout about injustice. However, when done in creatively intelligent ways, political/personal art can start constructive conversations, direct controversy and affect lasting change. I can think of way too many things that I would like to help to change, so now I need to come up with a few innovative and creative ways to communicate those ideas.
My latest idea is some kind of experiment on making personal connections and committed engagements in place of superficial FaceBook banter and sporadic texts.  I would ask for participants and make it into a documented collection.

http://www.cinemapolitica.org/screening/concordia/women-art-revolution