Angela’s taking over for the next seven days while I get some stuff done. Enjoy!

Reflection of the Arts and Society

Angela Burke

            “Art has always been a mirror of society.  Art reflects society, art criticizes it, and art always offers solutions to problems in society.”  -Senam Okudzeto, Artist, Founder and Director, Art in Social Structures, Ghana

            “Art as a mirror of society.”  This is profound.  Particularly as we stand, eyes trying to open, attempting to see the world in which we live.  A world that appears to be nothing as it seems.  We are all in a hurry…going nowhere…nowhere without our phones.  Always connected, yet growing further and further apart.   And we wonder why the percentage of Americans on anti-depressants has alarmingly increased in the past five years.  Hmmmm….  

            Saturated with images…many false…many distorted…but fortunately, many beautiful.  It is this beauty that reconnects humanity.  Music, art, writing….these are our conduits to love, compassion, sanity.  Without Art, regardless of the form, our society collapses.  And yet…this essential component of our existence is often forgotten, undervalued and left for background noise. 

            We are told what is good.  We are told what to like.  We are told what to buy.  We gravitate toward best-selling lists and top-rated television programming.  We have “standards” we teach our children in school, emphasizing proficiency in math, reading and writing.  Kids grow up doing what is needed to pass.  They memorize and regurgitate.  But what they really need is freedom.  We all do.  Freedom to explore ideas for ourselves…to manipulate our thoughts and turn them into something new….to create. 

            Looking into the mirror of Art, I feel that it is one of our last hopes in bringing us to a place of communication and freedom in order to offer a voice.  A voice to keep society in check…to speak for the suppressed, to call out the unjust, to shout out the truth.

            This is the purpose of the Arts.  And all of us – authors, musicians and artists – must let our voices be heard.  So create!  And create from within, making it real.  Create and speak for those who can not.  And maybe….just maybe…society will listen, the echo creating a ripple of change for the better.   

            Angela Burke is the author of LUCIDITY and BENEATH the MAYAN MOON.  She lives in Boulder, Colorado and enjoys running, skiing and taking long hikes in the mountains. A former teacher, she now spends her time building her massage therapy practice, while chasing after her three great kids and daydreaming up new story ideas.

            You can find her at www.angelaburkebooks.com, on the Solstice Publishing website, Facebook and Twitter.  Her books are available on Amazon.