Can art create vehicles of change?

I was walking with a friend of mine this morning. She has ventured into the world of photography with both feet and her whole heart. I admire that. We were chatting about the statement of: Do you go out with a fixed intent of creating a particular image? Stated bluntly, do you have something in mind when you click the shutter? Do you, as the artist/creator/visionary of the piece, have a focus and do you know what it is? It doesn’t matter what kind of “art” you create, it poses the interesting question of INTENT. As she is growing as a creator, which hopefully we all are in our own ways, she is comfortable not knowing what she wants to photograph yet (?) and goes out and tries all sorts of things. Bravo for experimentation. Bravo for creative growth.

As a creator of anything, how important is the piece/the image/the product? Is there a message? A hidden messages? What are the thoughts you as the creator had/have and what might the spectators views be? What becomes of the piece?  I was back from my walk and was listening to the below TED talk. The title-Can art amend history? caught my attention. I thought it was an impressive 12 mins. and I have placed it below for you. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

I have pulled this quote out of the talk: You can switch out the words “paintings” or “sculptures” for just about anything you may be working on or thinking about. “I want to make paintings, I want to make sculptures that are honest, that wrestle with the struggles of our past but speak to the diversity and the advances of our present. And we can’t do that by taking an eraser and getting rid of stuff. That’s just not going to work.”

As a new year rolls in the topics of change, unspoken truths, shifting focus in whatever ways/means rings true to you seems like the perfect time to post this idea and/or question of- Just what is your intent?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:  Titus Kaphar · Artist