Catalyst
Art and its impact to society
Most of the time, people belittle art and the artist.
“Walang pera sa art”, “ano ba ambag ng art art na yan?”, “ang dali lang naman gumawa ng art dapat cheap lang yan”.
People seem to think that art doesn’t have the power to change or create an impact. Well, throughout the years, art did bring an impact on society. It’s one of those little things that bring a big impact to life.
In another one of our Art Appreciation classes, we learned how visual arts shape identities and society. Art connects people and brings relationships together as the artist tries to express what he or she wanted to show. Art can be used to make one’s thoughts heard, even the people who aren’t able to speak up, use art to make them heard. Such examples are when art is used for protests in political, social, and environmental issues. Artists show their stand on several issues creatively through their artworks and when people see it, they too could understand their perspective on the issue. This means that art can influence and encourage the audience to think deeply about the matter.
An example of how art can be used to bring change is the photo above showing Federico’s artwork entitled “Land Grab” aiming to express his stand and show to the public the efforts of the indigenous groups in the Philippines in their campaign for the protection of their ancestral land. It calls for awareness about what these people are going through as their being displaced. This artist has influenced people to understand the needs of the indigenous groups much better. His paintings were shared and used by activists, heritage advocates, and scholars to inspire more Lumad for their rights and identity and to bring relationships together of these groups to the whole nation.
How can people understand the message or idea of an artwork?
Though some artworks immediately translate or show the message they are trying to express, some were done subtly and creatively which needs to be carefully analyzed more deeply. I learned through the 4 planes of analysis that Alice Guillermo had done in her essay was effective in understanding the whole artwork much better. We used this method in our preliminary exam essay and it was interesting to do because I get to understand the artist’s intention much better. In doing so, I appreciated how artists carefully and creatively thought of the artworks they were trying to make. It makes me realize how art surpasses the possibilities of expressing one’s thoughts more effectively. There is truly a possibility that art can bring change and an impact on society. Art can be a catalyst for change.
You can check out our group’s analysis below and see how art can be a catalyst for different ideas or change.