This seminar was very interesting, and I really enjoyed listening to the artists featured and what their art means to them and to their communities. Art is a powerful tool for expressing emotion, communicating with others, and for advocating for change. It was very inspiring to hear from artists who use their art as a means to advocate for such change. The artists used murals, street art, and gallery art to spark dialogue at protests, online, and in their communities to bring attention to topics they were passionate about. I really enjoyed viewing the beautiful art pieces the artists shared in this webinar and learning about their creative processes when it comes to making thought-provoking pieces designed to spark change.

This seminar made me realize just how powerful art could be in changing people and society. I think the part of the seminar that stood out to me the most was the demonstration on how murals were used in the NYC climate change protest, and many other kinds of protests as well. If I imagine a protest without a mural or any artwork, all the power of the protest comes from the sheer number of people attending the protest as well as how loudly the people are screaming, but it is hard to prove a point or actually make change with that since people are not very likely to feel any emotion from that, just statistics. However, if I image the same protest with murals and many works of art visualizing what the people are fighting for, it definitely resonates with me a lot better, and I think it would most definitely resonate with many others as well. Seeing a depiction of the world burning or people dying created by an artist can be much more powerful than mere words and numbers, so this made me change my mind on the importance of art when trying to make a change. I originally thought that adding art to a protest was no different than just writing words on a sign, but I realize now that actual art with hours of effort put into them is much more effective in striking people in their hearts and bringing about change.

I have never really enjoyed walking around museums looking at art. I find it hard to concentrate and appreciate it. But getting to hear from the artists themselves what the inspiration was behind the pieces and what it was about made it easier to understand and appreciate it. I am not sure if I will start going to museums or not but I think that I will start to look a little closer at art.

In this webinar, Crystal Clarity and Kadie Salfi discuss their work and the importance of the dialogue they hope to start with their artwork. While both artists work in different mediums, they both are passionate about using art to provoke discussion around the issues they depict in their work. The different ways in which they present their work also contribute to how the message is communicated and how the viewer reacts. For example, Kadie often shows her work in gallery spaces, but in one show she placed her depictions of guns around locations of gun related books in a library. This sparked a variety of different reactions for people who saw her works scattered around the library. 

The way that the art was made also allows for a fruitful experience for the artists themselves. Crystal talked about how the participation aspect of street art allows for engagement in topics that may personally affect the artist and helps to increase confidence and various skills that are not just limited to creating art. The artists are able to express themselves in this visual way, which can be just as meaningful as written mediums. While the final product is important, the creative process is just as impactful. I was also struck by the mental impact that the artists experience when working on heavy topics, and how it can also be mentally taxing to create art for these issues, such as gun violence, war, racism, police, etc. While a lot of people turn to art for healing and often experience it as a cathartic process that relieves stress, it can also, in turn, cause stress for artists who address these topics. Overall, I think that it requires a lot of dedication in order to create thought-provoking art based on these topics, and I really enjoyed seeing the pieces that the artists showed during the panel. 

In this LWYL cafe, one speaker spoke about how tens of millions of sharks are killed every year for their fins, and the rest of their body is wasted in the sea. She used art in order to protest against these actions and raised awareness. She then followed this up by saying that humans are the ultimate apex predator and that we have the ability to change the world in any shape or form we want. However, we are changing it for the worse for our own selfish desires. Firstly, I was shocked to see how many sharks were actually killed for their fins. I knew that this was an issue, but I didn’t realize it was this bad. It makes me incredibly sad and made me realize why my mother from Asia was so incredibly passionate about the shark fin debate (against taking and eating fins of course). Additionally, she goes on to talk about how other animals are being endangered due to humans’ selfish desires (and also made beautiful art to raise awareness for those animals as well). Some things are mostly out of our control such as rhino poaching, but we can all do our small part such as not littering and recycling goods that are recyclable. Back in my home town, many of my friends would litter instead of going to the trash can or waiting to throw out the trash once the car reaches its destination. Although I’m fairly responsible at doing my part in this matter, this seminar made me realize that I need to make a bigger effort by telling my friends that littering and other non-green actions are no okay and that we all need to pitch in in order to keep the world healthy.

In my opinion, both music and art, inclusive of drawings and paintings, are some of the purest forms of expression. I’ll admit that I’m sometimes slightly jealous of the artists who can communicate their thoughts and creativity through sound and sight. There are so many nuances and details that are incorporated into these works which affect the audience, even though they don’t realize it, which is what makes it so powerful. For example, not only the complexity of the content is important, but also the canvas and materials used. The emotions that art evokes is what makes it such an effective tool, especially for social change.

The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” comes to mind when I think about the effect that art has. I was impressed by the work that artists Kadie Salfi and Crystal Clarity were tackling, since the issues seem to me so intimidating and important. Extinction, gun violence, and the police are contentious issues, but the art that they showed spoke volumes.

Additionally, I was struck by the purity of art that was presented as well as by the idea that street art is so much more than graffiti. I never really thought about it much, but the expression of art on the streets is a valuable medium of expression for many communities. As the panelists aptly said, street art is art that lives in the streets, that represents the community, and that gives people a voice.