For the longest time, my voice has been silenced by the people around me, but also by myself, I will not lie about that. I am incredibly shy when it comes to voicing my opinion about the world around me. I am easily intimidated and crushed by the comments of others. But, recently, I have decided to dive more into my art and I have decided to refuse to be crushed or silenced any longer.
Each time I hear about an artist being arrested because of their art, through their protest art, my voice has yelled in my mind telling me to speak about such matters. Well, I have decided to let my voice speak through my own art and an uncontrollable urgency has sprung forth in my soul. I have to speak about these artists who are sacrificing their livelihood, their freedom, and even their lives to voice their opinion on global art yesterday and today about events that need to be spoken of. So, that is what I have decided to work on. Working on that subject is something that feels right for me to do. To speak to the world about such artists is my calling I believe.
I first started a few days ago, working on a small watercolor study on an artist I deeply admire: Ai Weiwei. The flame of passion in my heart started a few years back when I saw a documentary on him when he had been arrested and detained for 81 days because of his stance against the CCP. His voice resonated in me and now, I have decided to share my passion, my own voice about such artists who are giving away their very freedom to get the word out there about how crazy this world has become.
I admit, many art protesters out there irk me, but only because I am facing myself through their protests. These views sometimes shock me and make me look at myself more closely. I work hard to see why I feel the way I feel, and often through my own research find out truths that shock me, and eventually change me. Ignorance is one of the biggest problems in this world and through my research about these people and their message, I find myself changing in my understanding of what they are saying and why. I still have a long way to go to change some faulty opinions I have about many topics of this world, but I know I am on the right track simply because of how much I am learning and changing within myself. Who knows, maybe what I am doing will help others change as well.
Time to go to work!
This is a small watercolor study of a portrait I did of Ai Weiwei. I always start with a small study with my cheap watercolor set, keeping the expensive sets for bigger pieces. These studies that I do are helping me see how I can voice my work through my art. My art is portraiture and my new medium is watercolor. I may still do some graphite portraits someday, but for now, this is where I need to go.