Art as Honesty

Art is an emergency. There is no luxury.

- Sislej Xhafa, Albanian Artist


I attended a unique workshop today put on by Tej Ajji, resident curator of U of T's Justina M. Barnicke Gallery. Visiting artist Sislej met with a small group of young emerging artists in a didactic sharing slash learning slash ego abandoning experience. It's ironic that since Nuit Blanche, I have engaged in nothing but alternative learning methods in the established institution known as University of Toronto. It inspires me that art can still have this rawness despite the standardization of art programs across the different schools. Meeting and working with someone like Sislej was a reminder of what art really means to us as artists beyond mass consumption. Why do we feel impelled to make art? Why must we create art as artists? What are our roles in society and in our own lives as living artists? The most important message I took from today, and a theme which seems to be the driving force of my existence of late, was that as artists we cannot be indifferent.

We either like, dislike or feel indifferent about things around us, including art. As artists, we cannot sit idly by and consume the way that larger society may. As artists, we have the responsibility to respond with creativity to those things around us that inspire, anger, frustrate or thrill us. When I think about my M.O. these days, I realize that the timing of this message is fortuitous. Never have I felt more confident yet vulnerable about making myself clear to me and those I care for. I feel more urgency to trust in my instincts and my emotions than ever before. Maybe this is age. Maybe this is the next challenge of my being. Maybe this is the beginning of something grand. I have learned today that being honest challenges me and those around me to be their best. It is easy to be indifferent. It is easy to tell people what they want to hear, what will make them happy, what will confirm their sense of themselves. It is harder to take the risk of criticizing or giving one's honest reaction. And at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, have you helped that person to be their best? Have you helped them grow?

We are all individuals and have a different fabric of experiences that make up our consciousness, our relationships, our fears, our dreams....our responsibility, if you believe you have any, is to fulfill who we truly are. No one can see any one thing in exactly the same way, but we don't need to apologize for how we see things. We have only to be honest about who we are so that we can be authentic. From this authenticity and willingness to put yourself on the line is where good art comes from. We have to react immediately as our emotions change with the blink of an eye. As artists, can we capture even just a moment of this fleeting richness of being alive? I hope so.