Art is subjective. It can be on canvas, wood, paper, video can be used, or performance. What I love about art is how multifaceted it can be, if you are trying to convey an emotion or message, anything can truly be used. This piece truly is inspiring. Emma Sulkowicz is working on her senior thesis called “Carrying that Weight”, a project where she carries her mattress, the same mattress that she was raped on in her own dorm room, around with her everywhere she goes. Not only to convey the weight of what happened to her, but to show how something so private needs to be discussed and dealt with in the proper way. By utilising elements of protest she not only brings the subject of rape into a conversation that needs to be talked about, but actually demands a right on her campus to be treated as one who was abused.
It not only symbolizes what happened to her in a very public way, but actually shows people the sort of weight rape vicitms carry around with them every single day. A performance art piece that truly is touching, well thought out, and inspiring. It has created such a movement across the world, and I truly salute her for her bravery and openness. Emma Sulkowicz, you are one hell of a brave woman.
I know I know the coolest people out there. How do I know this? Because the coolest people are the ones who not only support you when you don’t even believe in yourself, but push you no matter what, day or night to keep creating work, even if you can’t seem to be able to lift a pencil. The coolest people are the ones who share your art proudly, and get your work seen by other amazing people, who also share your work, and others who find your work so unique they they actually want to know more, so they set out to interview you live on TV, or write articles about you. It keeps going in a spiral until you sit so dizzy and stressed with all the work you need to do for people who are so excited. It’s good stress. Busy stress, and I am loving every minute of it.
An art project can mean many things to me. If it communicates an idea, is emotional, interactive and visual then to me, it’s an art project. For these reasons I would have to say Project Unbreakable is not only a community, a support unit, but also an art project worldwide.
Reading the sentences, looking into peoples eyes as you see the pain, but also the strength and watching the video makes you heartbroken, but it also makes you proud of how people refuse to be broken and how strong they truly are. I want to hug each of the people and tell them thank you. Thank you for being our strength, and hope.
I know I have disappeared. It has been such a busy and stressful time, I have no excuses for you, like rescuing people from burning buildings, or creating such incredible large art pieces.. I am terrible, I know! Work has taken up so much of my time during the week, then I go to a village on the weekend to teach art, that I have such little amount of time to work on art. It doesnt mean I haven’t, because I have. I will write about that later. For now I want to share with you an ad I worked on as a makeup artist, as well as got stuck being an extra in it (if you look closely you will see me with a child), which was such incredible fun. A 12 hour day and standing on my feet a lot of it, but it made me realize how much I miss working in the film making industry. Anyone out there listening to me, hook a girl up!
This video is in Arabic, but the gist of it is this guy (in the red shirt) has aids, and goes to a government office where the line is almost out the door and sneezes. A guy turns around, spots him, and tells the guy behind him how he saw him at the hospital and had aids. Causing a domino effect, where people are uneducated on how aids can spread, freaked out and ran off (I grabbed my child in horror!). When he gets to the counter, the government worker asks him what happened to the line and the guy says how they heard he had aids. The government worker shakes his hand and wishes him good health. The ad proceeds to explain how aids is not transmitted by sneezing and so on.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I get so energized and inspired by my creative friends. Speaking to them about different projects, throwing ideas back and forth, neat things we’ve seen that others may be interested in, and anything that gets our juices flowing about art, music, films, and dream projects we wished we had the money to start. It truly is good to have friends who create such a safe environment where I feel not only like I can be myself, but that I can share silly ideas that may be disasters in real life with. People I trust and know will encourage me to do these crazy projects, knowing it will probably push me to doing something I would be too scared to do if not for their encouragement.
I guess this really isn’t about anything but the importance of surrounding one’s self with creative thinkers. People who not only think outside the box, but take that box and recreate it, design it, and build it into another form. This isn’t only for creative or artistic people; this is for anyone wanting to be a well-rounded person. I, for one, believe that surrounding yourself with people that light a fire inside of you, and encourage your passion to grow are people you need to be around.
I think this is mostly a thank you to everyone who has ever pushed me with my art work, encouraged me to keep at it, and who always seems excited to talk about my ideas with me. To the people who always had something to say wether negative or positive, and to the people who showed such enthusiasm when I talked about working on another piece.. You guys are who keep me going, who without you guys, I truly couldn’t do it. You all are my rock, and I love you guys! Thank you ❤
I loved this video about thinking outside the box, and how the process of thinking outside the box should be creative in itself! Some good advice in the video, even if it was supposed to be just funny! Enjoy! =)
A while ago I created a video with the help from a friend, about Creativity in the Middle East. In the video there was a band that I talked to about the challenges they faced being creative in the Middle East and what obstacles they had to overcome to get their music out there. A few days ago Empty Chair released their very first single and I am excited to say that it is quite good! I’ve watched them live a few times, and they have always rocked the audience. Not only by how they played each song, but the interaction they had with each audience member. Always eager to please and take suggestions, be it song suggestions, or constructive criticism. They have worked very hard and it is obvious the love they have for what they do is what drives them to create music that touches peoples souls.
One thing that captures me are the lyrics. What I love about this song is how I can relate to it, and I’m sure most people can as well. It starts out with Kamal singing
“Sitting here alone
In a cold dark room
Wishing you were here
To ease the pain”
Haven’t we all felt this way at least once in our lives? And yes, I am not ashamed to admit it! The loneliness of not having someone there to ease our pain, to make us feel as if everything will be alright in time gets to each one of us.
“It hurts too much
To just sit and stare
At a scattered memory
At an empty chair”
One reason I love the lyrics above is because of the smart way they integrated the name of their band, Empty Chair, into the song, and made it make sense! I fell in love with this song because it hits home for a lot of people. So many people experience the pain they are describing in their lyrics, that it connects us all together. Makes us feel as if we are not alone. The feeling they put into playing their instruments and the way the song is sung makes you feel as though they have experienced the heart ache, and pain of losing someone and by doing so, they connect with their audience in such a magical way. What better way is there to to relate to your audience but by singing about something you have experienced and what others can relate to.
Empty Chair definitely has a gift. Not only with the way they play their instruments, with passion and intensity, but their lead singer, Kamal Shbeir, sings from his heart, and it doesn’t help that he has a one of a kind, husky voice that captures the women in the audience! They bring something different to Amman, and now that they have released their fist single, I can say that they are stepping up and proving to everyone that they really are made to be stars.
Congratulations Empty Chair, on a single that not only makes a person experience different emotions, from sadness, to hopefulness, but for proving that with hard work, determination, and dedication, anyone can live their dream.
I have a thing for projects that embrace a community, or the world. I feel like art can do so much for different countries by bringing them together to make people realize how all of us truly are the same. We all seek happiness, we all seek truth, and we all seek a purpose in this life. Why we don’t get along seems so simple to be honest. We are scared of change and we are terrified of what we dont understand.
Matt Harding is an 35 year old from Connecticut who travelled the world vido taping himself dancing (it started when his friend suggested he do his “bad” dance when he was touring Asia). The video went viral and Stride gum asked him if he was interested in taking another trip around the world and recording it again. This all happened in 2006. In 2007, Matt went back to Stride gum suggesting letting people around the world dance (people had sent him videos of themselves dancing), and thus this video was produced.
Where The Hell is Matt stirs so many emotions in me that seem unexplainable. It is such a happy video, but makes me feel sad, and happy at the same time. Here we see people from all paths of life dancing for the joy of it. Here we see everyone come together for the joy of dance and it makes me wonder why we don’t see more of these projects traveling the world. Why isn’t there funding and support from people to try to bring different cultures together? We need more projects like this that have so many different layers to it. We need more people like Matt.
Are there other projects out there that do this kind of thing? I know of a few, but not many. I really do hope my project, Traveling Thoughts, can create such a stir in people and bring them all together.
Happy 75th Golden Gate Bridge! One of the happiest times for me was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge with the windows down, the music pumping, and myself daydreaming up another art piece. There truly is no place like San Francisco… ❤
A friend of mine, who is an incredible creative artist, sent me this video and I had to share with everyone on here and whoever else accidentally finds my blog. An incredible speech by Neil Gaiman where he addresses the University of the Arts Class of 2012. If you are having a hard time finding inspiration, or simply feeling down about you work, this speech will inspire you beyond words.
To all my creative friends and fellow artists, keep on making good art!
Ramblings of an Artist 