How can you say that art is helpful in the face of war-terror-death-and all the other darkness that humanity perpetrates on itself? Because that’s what it’s meant to do. It’s what it was created to do. It’s what we, artists, do. You bring tanks - we paint rainbows on your gunport. You bring bombs - we quilt blankets to line the concrete shelters with beauty. You try to silence us with violence - we write sonnets with your ugly words turning them into so many daisies in a field of weeds. Sometimes you pass laws in places like Texas and Arkansas -places that paint with your favorite color. But we know that red and blue can be mixed with light and become the pink and teal on a transgender flag. You use money as power and power as justification for the death you order onto those who oppose you. We painted those pictures. We wove that linen and paper. We invented the press that your money is dependent on. You can hold a gun to our temple - you can pull the trigger- you can watch the bullet take the spark that created beauty- but the art will live. Art is not a human It is humanity - It is not mortal but lives as cultural consciousness within us all. You can flail in impotent rage and call it “justifiable conflict” or “patriotism.” WE plant seeds of hope that flower into the vines which will topple all the monuments to your memory. War-terror-death-oppression-prejudice-YOU are momentary Art is the immortality of those you tried to silence.
