Art for many people is not a familiar topic. And an artist’s idea before it comes live is invisible. How to make the invisible become visible and meaningful? A solution is to bring art as form into the community. I learned a lot from this class this semester; I finally saw and appreciated different levels of my society. Let me feel the power of art and bring it closer. Firstly, art can bring light to people. Secondly, art can bring hope to people. And thirdly, art can make a story without language. Story behind mural, for example, is to let people express their thoughts and give them the power of hope. In this class, I saw lots of fine documentaries from a very poor area. People there righted for survival every day. These people woke up and went to sleep in fight for a better life. I also noticed lots of failure and even death. But those brave hearts did not give up fight for the better lives. I often think myself how lucky I am. I should use every second of my life-time to do something useful and good for the community. To help more people and bring my love to them is fundamental for me.
What is Diversity?
Before the class, I already knew that diversity has various forms. These may include people from all-over the world with diverse cultural background, and thus people often have different opinions over the same discussion point. It is well appreciated when people explore new and diverse ideas and think outside the borders. For design students, I believe diversity is about research on the process of how to put more content on a single design. It is not merely about what it looks like, but it is the whole story, culture, ethnicity, power, and governance behind the same object or idea. It is also important to communicate with the society through our work. We need to consider how to explain the abstract into reality, so that masses of people across the world would understand. When we reach higher levels, our inspiration would be expanded, we may hear the voice and idea from many people holding different opinions but we are able to absorb them and then express them with our work. I believe that is one of the meanings of diversity in design for art students. After this class, I came to assume that diversity has other meaning as well like mixture of people, beliefs, values, and social circles. Art uniquely empower the creative vitality of every identity. Art understands that cultural vibrancy is due to its diversity. As such, art acknowledges that all cultures are vital to the form of art and the promotion of one culturally, democratic world. It goes beyond language, ethnicity, race, and religion, to include crosscutting characteristics, such as gender, sexual orientation, and a range of one’s ability and age. The Artist for the Arts sake seeks to build an appreciation for the qualities brought to bear by each individual and cultural group, with whom he or she shares communities and the nation as a whole.
