“This Is What I Know About Art” is an installment of the Pocket Change Collective where Kimberly Drew, the author, writes about snippets of her life which led towards her goal as an art activist. Drew introduces the concept of expression when she speaks of different art pieces and their creators. This ties in well with the idea of reflection and interpretation that has been discussed in class. From what we know as artists, it is our job to reflect ourselves and ideas into our creative pieces. Drew held these same beliefs; even going as far to create her own art activist community to shed light on underappreciated artists. Within her journey, Drew was able to bring inspiration to those who also set foot on the same path.
Disclosed in “The Interventionists”, many activist art projects - spanning from Krzysztof Wodiczko to J. Morgan Puett - were presented and explained to create awareness and inspiration from its viewers. In relation, Drew used the same method in her writing. “(We talk about ‘imposter syndrome,’ or the feeling that you don’t belong somewhere. Then and now, I dismiss feelings of imposter syndrome. How can there be one diagnosis for an anxiety that feels so tailored to who you are as a person?)” (Kimberly Drew, page 15). These words spoke to me the most because I occasionally feel as though I do not fit in with others as well as I should. Whether it be on group assignments or even in a class full of future artists like this one, my head and heart tell me I’m not accepted. However, I can now identify this alienated feeling as the dreaded imposter syndrome and fight against this self-inflicted anxiety that holds me back.
(Krzysztof Wodiczko - The Homeless Vehicle)
Another quote that stuck out to me was “Small actions foster change. Our activism, like any other part of ourselves, develops into something bigger than a singular experience” (Kimberly Drew, page 61). This stuck out to me because I was able to connect this quote to another reading. “It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more” (John Berger, page 131). These two quotes connect in a way that conveys that change can be for the better. With change (or activism), we can create worlds that have never been achieved and build a greater community.
“Photographs are perhaps the most mysterious of all the objects that make up, and thicken, the environment we recognize as modern. Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood” (Susan Sontag, paragraph 2). In this quote, Sontag recognizes that art has a way of moving even the most tortured of souls. With just the right picture, any person’s mood can be either brightened or depressed. As for Drew, she went on to explain how during the Black Lives Matter protests, while her own workplace didn’t seem bothered by the riots, the outside world created many creative ideas that were put into play. That was Drew’s pivotal moment in which she knew that art would always be her faith.
With Drew motivating me, my own professional journey has started to look up. I have never been one for drawing or creating sculptures like other popular artists. However, I heavily favour becoming a writer with “This Is What I Know About Art” as my passion. In another class this semester, I’ve learned that a race and/or culture can die off either because its story was told wrong or that it has no history to keep it going. For myself, I plan to somehow bring out the best of any issue I want to speak about in my writings (along with my YA and Fantasy book ideas). “In that moment, I began to understand how intimately art and activism could work together to produce a collective voice and shared community” (Kimberly Drew, page 50).
Much like Drew, I aspire to bring my thoughts and ideas into the world and reach the hearts of everyone who also shares my mindset and motivations. Maybe my next act of art and activism and art could be starting over. This is a brand new year, a brand new me. With it, I just may find that missing piece of myself and become someone worthy. “Thoms seemed to be pushing the limits of what her audience expected of her. Each canvas ws a refusal of the way that she’d been known as an artist. It was a new beginning for her practice. Perhaps it was a new beginning for the both of us” (Kimberly Drew, page 46).
Works Cited
Drew, Kimberly. This Is What I Know About Art. Penguin Workshop, 2020.
Noordeman, Arjen. The Interventionists. N/A, 2004.
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books, 1972.
Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York Review of Books, 1977.
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