Thoughts on Art, Timing & Oppression
To listen to the audio of this post click here.
It’s the first of the month. The sobering after the awakenings of Black History and Heritage Month.
A friend and I joked about them taking the signs down right on the 1st, as if Black history goes back to being erased again. It was a joke, but when we got home and logged into our streaming platforms, the curated Black celebration was gone. Back to default. Back to white-centered.
Being an artist exposes my sensitivity.
Every February I get incredible ideas. Expansive, visionary ones. And almost every February, I feel blocked implementing them.
Then March 1st comes, and suddenly I feel clear.
I’ve looked at it two ways.
Either I’m rebelling against participating in an obligatory celebration of a history that consumed us, wounded us, and also shaped us.
Or I’m not focused enough. Not clear enough. Not healed enough to celebrate.
I don’t believe it’s the latter.
In this very post I’m sharing an unreleased song called Chocolate Fountain. It celebrates our beautiful brown and chocolate skin. It was recorded in 2020, long before any curated monthly spotlight.
So maybe the truth is this:
My spirit doesn’t move on command.
All marginalized ethnic groups suffer identity crises at the hands of their oppressors. That destabilization leaves us in a kind of wilderness. And strangely, that wilderness can be a gift.
Room to be who we are not, so we can know who we are.
Art is how I navigate that wilderness.
My art allows me to explore corners of my psyche that therapy, relationships, social media advice, gurus, or external validation never could. I’m not shunning those things. I’m just acknowledging what art does for me.
Art is healing.
We are also in an era where art is being outsourced to AI. And AI reflects us. When I type a neutral prompt, it often gives me a European-looking person by default. It mirrors what it has been fed.
So then the question becomes interesting.
If AI mirrors us, and we live in systems shaped by colonizing and oppressive thought patterns, can AI reflect that bias? Of course it can. It is trained on us.
But here’s what I find powerful.
It also refuses certain harmful ideologies. It has boundaries coded into it. That alone shows that integration isn’t the enemy. Our diseased and oppressive thoughts are.
Technology is not the villain. Disconnected consciousness is.
This is a new time.
It’s easy to get anchored into narratives that destabilize you. But the deeper question underneath race, culture, politics, and programming is this:
Can you remember who you are beyond your complexion?
Beyond your culture?
Beyond what was spoon-fed to you by wounded systems?
Beyond fear?
My art helps me tap into an identity beyond the ones placed upon me.
You expect eclecticism from an artist, do you not?
That’s what gives an artist character. Their uniqueness. Their ability to pull from vast sources.
Art is expression made tangible.
Something visible.
Something audible.
Something felt.
The pain of my ancestors lives in me. So does the joy of the Divine presence within me. When I don’t feel that presence, I know I need prayer. Alignment. Recalibration.
Oppressors create from their psyche too. Every human does.
Even elephants paint.
Creation is innate.
Which brings me to two things.
One, stay tuned for my upcoming book Everyone’s an Artist, Even YOU.
Two, I’ve included a free download of Chocolate Fountain in honor of Black Heritage 366. We’re including leap year room.
If nothing else, maybe we can celebrate ourselves and each other daily.
If we de-stereotype our ideas around structure, theology, and identity. If we decolonize our thinking. We leave space for the Creator within us. The Artist within us.
Art is not just visual or audio.
Art is:
Expression
Transformation
Communication
Provocation
Healing
Documentation
Rebellion
Play
Witnessing
Devotion
Identity
Story
Experimentation
So I’ll ask again.
What kind of artist are you?
With love,
La’Sage