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Obligations of An Artist- Bring it Black Podcast #1

Updated: Oct 4, 2020


So what are the obligations of an artist, especially those of a black artist during the times of rising tensions about racial injustice in the United States and a global pandemic? This week this question and more was tackled by our very own podcast host, Jenko, and special guest, Ms. Z. Both are black women student artists here at UIUC. During the disscussion, the working definition for the obligations of an artist quickly revealed itself to be more simple than one might think: to create art, which anyone can do. However the simplicity of the definition was not to overlook the caveats and processes that go into creating art. Ms. Z remarked, "My art is only as good as my headspace." She continued to talk about there is also a possiblity of creating irresonsibly, and the contradicting and often controversial messages about black women that music by non-black women often produce.


One topic of disscussion was also about bridging the gap between art and politics. Is there even a gap between the two, Jenko questioned? Z commented that art has always been political, from the Harlem Rennissance to the Art Rennisance that we are in now. "We are historians...in the most clear and unfiltered way," she said. "The gap comes when it's safer to be silent."


In the closing moments of the podcast Ms. Z talked about what she's working on, getting into her physical art, continuing in her poetry, and using free style rap to bring words out of her in the right moment, speaking her truth in the necesary moments. So let's continue the disscussion here!


What art are you working on now, fufilling your obligations of an artist?


How do you see the gap of art and politics present or being bridged in your own art or the art you see around you?


Thanks for listening in, and I'll be back next week with another blog starting a disscussion after the blog comes out on Sunday!


-Jade




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