Art as a way to raise awareness
Art is often eye-catching. This is often intentional to brighten up a space, to advertise, or to raise awareness. Something people began to realize is that once you have people's attention, you have a ready-made audience for what you are really trying to say. Whether it is to raise money or to educate, art can be more than just what it looks like.
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| Waiting for the Climate Change, made by Isaac Cordal in Nantes, France, 2013 |
To reach the largest amount of people, street art is usually your best bet. Isaac Cordal seems to think so, as he made this piece and its companions in public areas. He uses water to set the stage for sculptures that represent politicians' lack of action to combat climate change. Like this, they look like they are still debating while ignoring the true and present problem which is the water rising around them. Seeing something like this while you are walking around makes you question the motive for such an art piece. Cordal uses it to bring attention to the rising danger of climate change as well as the ineffectiveness of the politicians.
The different heights of the statues bring an interesting variety to the assortment. The addition of the life preservers around a man in professional attire brings an aspect of ridiculousness to the scene. The idea that they could go so far as to be clinging to floating objects and still do nothing about it reinforces the artist's message. Also, I just like how silly it looks. This particular installation being life-size is pretty cool too, it is pretty easy to mistake life-size painted statues for people. The added question 'is that a real person' adds some interest to the presentation.
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| Chompers the shark, made by Washed Ashore in Oregon, USA, 2016 |
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Priscilla the Rainbow Parrotfish made by Washed Ashore in Oregon, USA, 2016 Washed Ashore aims to use its art to work towards several goals. Directly, they clean up plastic waste from beaches. They use donated plastic collected from volunteers or beach cleanup groups across the US to create their sculptures. As illustrated on their website, they have five educational objectives. They want to encourage people to love the ocean, to understand where plastic waste comes from and how it is detrimental, to use the art to gain attention and promote solutions, to teach about recycling plastic, and to shift habits more towards reusing and away from instant disposal. As the group does not use dyes or paints to supplement the colors of the plastic, the sheer range of colors is interesting to me. A large rainbow statue is very eye-catching indeed, and it is only upon coming closer that you realize that it is made out of trash. The gradients they managed to get out of a limited selection of trash is impressive, and the arrangement even more so. The usage of plastic to imitate sea life is very ironic, considering the reason they were made in the first place. It was of course intentional, but it bears repeating because I think it's funny in a horrible sort of way. The shark one, by contrast, has fewer colors. Maybe it's the perspective the picture was taken from, but from afar, it reminds me of Lego constructions. The plants underneath the shark are sort of abstract, at least from the distance the photo is. They are nonetheless completely recognizable, if only in context. The arrangement of the small patch of land in the same world as the plastic shark is pretty good as well. The way it follows the shape of the shark is perhaps out of necessity, but combines the pieces into a coherent whole nonetheless. |
Performance art, especially when done in public, inevitably makes people wonder why this person or these people are acting out of the norm. Strangers acting, well, strangely is surely something to garner attention unless in a place where people often do questionable things.
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| I Never Ask For It, organized by Blank Noise in Karnataka, India, 2006 |
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| I Never Ask For It, by Blank Noise in New York, USA, 2017 |
I Never Ask For It is an ongoing movement to combat rape and sexual harassment through education. They aim to raise awareness of the frequency of sexual assault and use the publicity to empower victims and educate people to reduce the bystander effect.
The gathering of people with large stickers on their bodies is usually only associated with a sports event, but these people use it to draw attention to their cause. The group of people with identical stickers is like repetition in a way, creating a pattern as they walk or perform. The thing they want with their art is for someone to wonder what they're doing and ask about it. It is a very interactive art form. Without the audience and documentation, it may as well not have happened.
Accompanying the performances, Blank Noise also has several exhibits dedicated to showcasing the clothing people were wearing when they were sexually assaulted. They collect the clothes from donations and show them off to try and convince people that it does not matter what someone is wearing, they never ask to be assaulted.
It is at first confusing to see what appears to be an exhibit containing only what appears to be someone's old clothes. As you approach enough to get details, it becomes much more chilling. Accompanied with the otherwise unremarkable clothes is a short story from the one who donated the clothing about how they were raped. This is not an exhibit meant to induce nice feelings, but one to make you think. I find it very effective.
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| #OrangeVest, performed by Georgia Lale & Co in New York, USA, 2015 |
#OrangeVest is a movement whose goal is to draw attention to the situation of refugees. Inspired by the news of the deaths of Syrian refugees, Georgia Lale began wearing an orange vest while silently walking around New York in a mirror of the situation many refugees face trying to escape from war and violence.
The contrast of the dark clothing and bright orange flotation vests is very striking. Especially within a group, it becomes difficult to ignore when a person is walking around with a brightly colored object around their neck. That is especially so when it is something as odd as a life vest on dry land. The contrast goes further than color though, as it compares the safe, dry life the people in New York have compared to the plight of refugees.
Citations
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but these sound so much more. I love that the pieces that you picked brought attention to issues in the world. More than just an art state meant they were part of movements. I liked the colorful parrot fish and how it was made with other things. How do you think art impacts its era? Does This art speak to you in any way?
ReplyDeleteI love the theme you chose here of “art to raise awareness” . I think these public works are SO important. Art is one of the best ways, in my opinion, to grab people's attention and convey a message just by observation. One of the examples you included that I am most passionate about is Washed Away. I think raising awareness for saving our oceans is vital and that these sculptures are such an amazing way to do it. We have similar sculptures here in Kodiak to convey a similar message.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" seems to fit the issue you have chosen to discuss here, "art as a way to raise awareness," these have a deeper and more meaningful meaning. I think it's fantastic that the pieces you chose raised awareness of global concerns in one of the greatest ways. I never imagined someone discussing about this genre of art in this class, and I think that it's unique and raised awareness when I read your blog. I never thought this kind of work would be discussed in class, and after reading your blog, I believe it's unique and has increased awareness. You picked some excellent pieces and did a fantastic job of introducing this artistic movement to someone who has never heard of it, Moey!
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