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Dear Reader,
I’ve been meditating on this quote below (attributed to Amiri Baraka, although I tried to find the text or speech it originated from and haven’t been able to do so. If you know, please comment below 💛)
“If you want to see how ugly the world is, place something beautiful in it.”
It brings to mind this quote from the Autobiography of Malcolm X
“Don't condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water, just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won't have to say that yours is better."
In short, what we see matters. What we see informs what we can create for ourselves. What we see informs the lens with which we view what already exists around it, as well as what we believe is possible for us to have. The role of the Artist is to bring visions of possibility to the collective. This is sacred and necessary work.
As a teen writer growing up in environments where we were taught our words had the power to save lives, that we could give voice to the voiceless, and that our poems and works were a catalyst for change, this idea has always been within reach for me. Even so, it took me years, to embody it. It took a long time for me to realize that I had something to say, and even longer before the idea that what I said could change the material reality of another person settled itself into my consciousness as fact.
Lets assume for a moment we agree on these truths:
The current ways of being (on the macro and micro levels of our existence) are unsustainable for the planet (we are part of the planet).
A better world is possible. (Shouts to Arundhati Roy)
If these things are true, how do we know what a better world looks and feels like? How can we as a collective move towards something we can’t touch, taste, smell, see, let alone imagine?
*Cue the Artists*
Artists have long been the ones to chart liberatory paths for us to follow.
Artists have long been the ones to give us permission to imagine free worlds and emancipated futures.
I do not dare to think of creating is a frivolous thing. I think of it as vital to our endurance as a species beyond mere survival.
I believe our creative visioning is a precursor to the existence of the liberated future we’ve always hoped we could have. One where humanity has the chance to thrive. Where the topsoil is regenerated. Where animals no longer go extinct. Where we preserve biodiversity. Where the climate is regulated. Where acres of forest no longer burn. Where people are housed and fed. Where we are truly seen- not as a commodity or a site of extraction, but in our full humanity. Where beauty is no longer something reserved only for the wealthy, but understood as the fundamental human right it is and an absolute necessity for living a good life. I can go on and on.
I’m not sure I believe in an ultimate, pain free utopia. To be alive is to live in a world where there are challenges. Where there is pain. Where there are problems to solve and things that must be worked through. I deeply believe these things are inherent to living a life.
I also know for a fact that A LOT of space would be freed up to attend to the matters of being human if we could eliminate the unnecessary conditions of suffering created as a result of living in the reality of a few peoples vision- a vision so narrow and distorted by capital gain, efficiency, and extraction, that it fails to serve nearly all but 1% of the population.
I know if you’re here, that means you hold in your heart a love for beauty. If you’re here, it’s because you’re an Artist (even if you have yet to admit it to yourself).
It’s high time for New Visions.
It’s high time for your hands, placing a thing of beauty into this world.
I know we will all be so much better for it.
I’ve been taking a class on 16mm filmmaking for the past 3 or so weeks. It has been a source of light and joy in otherwise trying times. Last Sunday was our shoot day, and I made my first short film. This Thursday, I get to see what I made for the first time and watch all the films made by everyone in our group. I’m so excited to watch mine. We didn’t really have a chance to practice before being told to go out and make the thing, so I don’t even care if it’s good. I’m just hoping my roll of film didn’t come back completely blank 😭
Below are some bts shots.
I love Fall. For me, it’s the time of cobblestone streets lined with amber colored leaves, cozy socks, and masala chai with extra foam and cinnamon sprinkled on top. Crisp deep breaths, cozy sweatshirts and peach tea.
Yesterday, I went plant shopping in the flower district. I’ve never had much of a green thumb, but I’m hoping to cultivate one. I tend to prioritize plants that are easy to grow without much help from me. A couple of the ones I got are a bit more challenging.
I got three new friends. A bby snake plant, a bird of paradise tree and the most amazing polka dotted cutie (She’s a Begonia Maculata and I’m in love. We go together real bad).
Ways To Create Together This Season:
✧ Written Into Being returns on November 12th.
For the duration of this registration period, I will be offering a discount code for the workshop. Use RECLAIM at checkout.
If you’d like to attend and cannot afford it, please message me at support@gisellebuchanan.com. Let me know why this offering resonates for you and whether you need full or partial scholarship 💐
✽ Buy My Merch ✽
I commit myself to donating a percentage of each sale I receive towards relief efforts for innocent civilians in Gaza.
Thank you, Giselle! I will leave this quote by Philosopher John Macmurray as your beautiful post made me think of it. I also don’t believe in a pain-free world. But as creatives, we must choose to use our voice for a more equal world.
"In imagination we feel sure that it would be lovely to live with a full and rich awareness of the world. But in practice sensitiveness hurts. It is not possible to develop the capacity to see beauty without developing also the capacity to see ugliness, for they are the same capacity. The capacity for joy is also the capacity for pain. We soon find that any increase in our sensitiveness to what is lovely in the world increases also our capacity for being hurt. That is the dilemma in which life has placed us. We must choose between a life that is thin and narrow, uncreative and mechanical, with the assurance that even if it is not very exciting it will not be intolerably painful; and a life in which the increase in its fullness and creativeness brings a vast increase in delight, but also in pain and hurt."
*cue the artists* *enter elephants blowing bubbles scene from fantasia*
thank you for this call to beautiful action :)