{"id":61,"date":"2013-07-03T04:39:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T04:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/?p=61"},"modified":"2013-09-02T03:32:20","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T03:32:20","slug":"using-art-to-transform-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/?p=61","title":{"rendered":"Using Art to Transform Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Art is most often used as an instrument for personal fulfillment.\u00a0 It is the material expression of one\u2019s deepest thoughts and feelings.\u00a0 It is an outlet for that which must be voiced in one\u2019s unique way, through poems, essays, paintings, sculptures.\u00a0 A little less often, while still resting on the personal expression of its creator, art goes beyond the individual, expanding and engulfing entire communities in its embrace.<\/p>\n

Three such projects have been featured in the media.\u00a0 Manya A. Braechar\u2019s article in the Los Angeles Times (http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nationworld\/nation\/la-na-hometown-buddha-20130616,0,224336.story<\/a>) covers the \u2018Ten Thousand Ripples\u2019 project, in which one hundred of artist Indira Johnson\u2019s emerging Buddha heads have been placed, in parts of Chicago where one would expect to see anything but that.\u00a0 \u00a0I have not personally seen them, but looking at the images, I can imagine the unexpected smiles of bemusement and involuntary oohs and aahs when people see these sculptures during the daily bustle of a metropolis like Chicago.<\/p>\n

Teo Kermeliotis\u2019 piece in CNN (http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2013\/06\/17\/world\/africa\/weapons-creation-guns-art-liberia\/<\/a>) describes how a metal works founder, among others, in Liberia is collecting scraps of the killing machines that devastated the country, and recreating them into useable art \u2013 think tables and candle holders with machine gun legs, trees and furniture using bazookas and rocket launchers.<\/p>\n

But my personal favorite is the wind-propelled rolling ball sculptures, made out of bamboo and biodegradable plastics, created by afghan brothers, Mahmud and Massood Hassani.\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/video\/2012\/12\/04\/afghan-harnesses-wind-for-landmine-deton?videoId=239625975<\/a>) This combination of art and industrial engineering design, which is still to be fully tested, is intended to be set loose on terrain filled with land mines, which lay hidden, ready to tear apart human flesh. \u00a0As the ball sculpture rolls around, directed by the wind on random paths, it detonates the land mines, clearing the land and rendering is safer for humans.<\/p>\n

How can you not feel invigorated and inspired by this, when art is used as the vehicle to transform a community, even if it is a person at a time.\u00a0 In my view, this is practical art helping humanity remember who we are.\u00a0 Creators.\u00a0 With a little spice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Art is most often used as an instrument for personal fulfillment.\u00a0 It is the material expression of one\u2019s deepest thoughts and feelings.\u00a0 It is an outlet for that which must be voiced in one\u2019s unique way, through poems, essays, paintings, sculptures.\u00a0 A little less often, while still resting on the personal expression of its creator, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zulfiqarblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}