In the TED talk “How Art Changes Us” by Titus Kaphar, I noticed his connections quickly regarding art and the power of history. Kaphar’s speech about African American drew me quickly as his talk was about an experience of his own, and his strong opinion on art. The statue of Teddy Roosevelt posted outside of a national history museum surrounded by a African-American and a Native American, demonstrated right away the way history still portrays the different races. The speaker goes on explaining the ways art is depicted in present day, with the bias that African Americans for example, aren’t being recognized for their work and appearance. Kaphar’s recreated a painting in order to show with texture and intensity the importance of recognizing African Americans in art. He mentioned in the article, “I take brush to canvas and try to bring alive of what I see and try and illuminate what I think the original painter didn’t see”. His new painting reveled the African American boy that was blurred in the original piece, showing his strong statements of equality and importance. His view on including all other races and minorities in art, showed me as a reader the importance of equality even if it’s just a piece of artwork.
The article “Is Art a Waste of Time?” by Rhy Southan, demonstrates the authors view on the importance of art as well as the influence of the growing Effective Altruism group. Southan’s article uncovered deep concepts such as the meaning of life and one’s contribution to the world. His opinion on art was strongly introduced as being important to society, although his views were swayed overtime. The Effective Altruists are a group of people that focus on the best contributions that are made to society, such as money and effort. Southan believes that art is still a way to contribute to the world, as all art has meaning. The EA contradict this opinion, as they think money is one of the only factors that can contribute to helping the world. Southan statement, “The idea that someone’s book, film, painting, or dance could be their way to reduce the world’s suffering..”, shows that artists still have meaning and importance in society, as the means of art can be used in different ways, such as therapy use and distraction. The author focused on his opinion on the power that art still has in society, despite groups like Effective Altruists trying to pivot individuals viewpoints the opposite way.
After drawing a concept map to direct my thoughts, I noticed that both articles focused on art both through artwork. The idea of equality is an importance topic that is discovered in both Southan’s article and Kaphar’s TED talk. Creating a concept map allowed me to make deeper connections with the meanings of the texts. I believe that art is influential to people in many ways, even if it is viewed as unimportant by some. I generalized the concept map, focusing on the underlying and persuasive topics, such as social class and the overall contribution to society. Both the article and the TED talk focused on art being a way to show meaning, as race was the main point in the TED talk. I gathered after connecting the two pieces that art will forever be meaningful to society as it does no physical harm and can still be used in powerful ways. I found myself as a reader, making connections and forming a favoring opinion with art. Despite the contradictions found with Effective Altruists, art should continue to live and be recognized in society.
