Kimberly Drew while a newer activist and author in this world has really set a foundation of inspiration and power within her messages of hope and struggles through her book This is What I Know About Art. She allows readers to encapsulate themselves within her vision of how the world should be and really creates a sense of closeness to her thought process as she walks us through the world of art being expressed through her lens. The main points that had a profound meaning to me dealt with her reaction to the lack of black artists being celebrated in this culture, as well as her thoughts on how internships and work experiences for young students should be enacted, creating a better stage for progress, and in the same time lessening financial burdens.
Growing up within the minority race of a culture of oppression and racism is rough, Kimberly Drew has felt those feelings within America in a few different ways, one mainly being the way we celebrate artists in our community. As Kimberly entered into the vast world of art through visiting galleries and her school classes she noticed that most paintings and expressions on display and within reach of the public encyclopedia were white artists. This is a tough experience to go through being confused about why people of your similar background are being left out of the spotlight. She writes in her book “ There have been black people since the beginning of time, but I was not seeing any of their art in any of my classes.” (8, Drew) This event in which she questions why there haven't been any topics on black artists is pivotal in her growth as a person of strength as well as her growth as an activist. I believe that through this realization of her circumstances, she allows herself to open up to the world and decide to take a stand for her community.
Furthering the theme of realization and enacting change through activism comes the point in which Kimberly discusses in her book about the modern professional world and how stagnant it is. The stagnation she refers to specifically addresses the problem that internships for students lack the effort to offer pay to relieve the financial burdens on students. Basically, this idea calls out corporations using students as cheap labor or less than an employee, this did not sit well with Kimberly and she addressed this problem as a main cancer within our work culture. She writes “ It's absurd to think about how many internships are still unpaid, and how elitist and morally corrupt it is to hire unpaid or underpaid labor.” This point is very true in our modern world of internships, while Kimberly Drew went through this process almost 5-6 years ago, this process has stayed the same. By speaking up about these issues through her book she has not remained on the sidelines, through the power of the pen Kimberly Drew took to activism to make strides for future students such as myself to have a better future to come.
Activism is very important to ensure societal growth, we must always question the norm and always try to make strides forward to ensure we are doing our best to live the best. Everyone should live under the scope of being truly free and respected within a community. I feel through her activism by writing this book and expressing her opinions on art Kimberly Drew has flushed our boundaries as a society and made strides for our future. I feel a sense of bonding with her ideas and proud activism as I too have taken to pushing norms to create a better future. In my own experiences, I pushed for students in my high school to have more subjects within history class to discuss matters of our cultural diversity and how we all make impacts in our society. I feel cultural diversity is very important and celebrating that diversity is crucial to our development as a society. I believe my actions of activism resonate with Kimberly Drews’ and really help correlate my ideas with hers. To me that's the pivotal moment of this book, being able to resonate with your readers is very important and crucial for extending your message. Through this idea of inclusion and activism, we can all grow as individuals thus helping our future selves in making positive impacts for companies we work for and the families we will raise. I feel this book and its message have made our future bright and inspiring. These messages can also be seen through other artists and leaders within our society such as Sontag. She allows us to view the world through the lens of expressionism, one of her quotes that I gravitate towards deals with the message of this paper and the voice of Kimberly Drew, it’s Sontag’s ideas of collecting photographs. Sontag writes “To collect photographs is to collect the world.” Collecting the world in the images we take allows for inclusion of everyone and everything, in the pictures we admire on our phones diversity is key and diversity shines bright in our minds.
To conclude, art is more than just a covered canvas is about expressing your feelings and teaching others about your point of view. Kimberly Drew really brought home that idea of inclusion and diversity. She helps bring the world out of the dark and opens our minds up to activism showing us that in order to make changes you must stand up for what you believe in.
Works Cited
Drew, K. (2020). This is What I know about Art.
Sontag, S. (2008). On photography. London: Penguin Books.
No comments:
Post a Comment