While reading the book This is What I Know About Art, by Kimberly Drew was very interesting because while Drew shares her story she also ties it up with art and activism. She begins the book by catching the reader’s attention. Right off the bat she starts talking about her first art related memory. It caught my attention automatically because it seems like Drew was not really interested in art, she traded her breakfast with a peer that had good art work skills. At the beginning it seems like Drew is contradicting herself because she says that even though she exchanged her breakfast for art work it did not mean that she did not enjoy it, but then as I keep reading I see that Drew lacked interest in even trying to do any artwork and took the easy way out of doing any work. Drew says that her passion in art comes from her two aunts from her father’s side of the family. As I kept reading it was interesting to understand that even when Drew had family gatherings she would go to museums, that shows how much of a passion her family had for art as well. When thinking about our class discussions I recall reading and talking about how sometimes Images do not mean much to others, they could walk past it and they will not even notice the art work was there, but on the other hand people who are passionate about art work look at it as “to collect photographs is to collect the world” stated in On Photography by Susan Sontag (Susan p1). In Drew’s case it shows that art work means a lot to her and it reminds me of a quote that I enjoyed from Susan Sontag which was "Photographs, which package the world, seem to invite packaging" (Susan p1). To me this quote meant that the photographs or art work that we see through out the world just make the world feel more enjoyable, interesting, and eye catching. This quote reminds me of Drew because even when enjoying time with her family they would go and enjoy the art work at museums so it shows their true passion on art, and to me it made me feel like they made quality time together very interesting.
As I continue to read the book it states how Drew went through a lot of difficulties while being a college student. She says her second year in college had taken a huge toll in her life because she was having financial problems which meant that she could not afford being a college student. Drew became depressed and felt like she was not going to excel in her education. She explains that everything was accumulating such as her financial situation, her grades weren’t that great, and she had gotten her heart broken. While reading this section it really broke my heart because being a college student is rough and I can honestly relate to Drew’s situation. Sometimes We have so many obstacles in our way that we tend to loose focus on our education and what really is important and it can definitely lead to depression. Drew’s academic advisor then recommended her to apply for an internship in the summer at the Studio Museum in Harlem this made an impact in her life because when she was accepted she could not believe it, but was looking forward to it. As her story continues she began to take art history classes and this is when things gave a little spin because she decided to begin her own blogs. Due to the circumstances of Drew’s financial debt with her school she had to look for ways in order to pay it off and make money. Drew began to work at multiple museums in order to recover the money she owed. Drew kept on posting on her blogs and showed the activist that she was. I was able to comprehend that it would make Drew very upset and uncomfortable to see how people of color and herself were treated differently then others. Drew was treated differently in her own classroom by her professor which definitely made her feel like she was less of a person only because of her color. Unfortunately, in life we see this every day even though racism has decreased it still happens. It is very sad to see how others have to feel worthless because we are not the same. I believe that if we were to all be the same life would be boring, we need different heritages, cultures, color, language because that is what makes us who we are. I strongly believe that no one should feel ashamed of who they are and that no one should be categorized by the color of their skin. This is why when Drew states her frustration and shows how upset that made her feel especially her professor I automatically felt upset as well because it is not fair that we have to go through discrimination, neglect, racism etc. Kimberly Drew showed us how she tied activism with art and in order for me to use activism and art in my own professional aspirations I need to be able to allow myself to share what I strongly believe in into my career. Sometimes it is hard to express our values and our beliefs in a career depending on what the career is on. For example, I want to become a psychiatrist but I have to be careful bringing activism into my career because a patient could be sharing her story and if I put my values and my beliefs and ignore hers then I can throw her off, make her feel like the session is about me and not about her. However, I guess everything in life is a balance so I could bring in activism into my career but to a certain extent. I can probably show my activism with being creative and showing my patients that I enjoy what I do. I can show them how passionate I am about the job, how well informed I am about different topics that they would want to talk about and that could show them how I include activism with my career.
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https://tinsandwichblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/30711818-stop-racism-word-cloud-illustration-in-shape-of-hand-print-showing-protest-stock-illustration.jpg
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Sources:
Drew, Kimberly. This Is What I Know About Art. Penguin USA, 2020.
Sontag , Susan. “On Photography .” Susan Sontag, www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml.
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