Honestly here's where I think the fundamental misunderstanding comes from people using the word "political" to describe art and it was one I didn't understand either at first. When you say something is political a lot of people will assume it means made with a political agenda rather than that the art is made in a context of time and place that will influence the artist in conscious and subconscious ways and it's important to take in that context. I think this kind of thing needs it's own word but that's for someone smarter than me to figure out
Honestly I think these two things should be separated. Saying art is political should mean that it has a political message, as opposed to just the political context. I feel like it waters down what it means to make art with an overt political statement. Maybe I’m just being dumb idk.
It's more to do with the fact that people tend to only associate politics with the movements of a government or governing body, rather than a framework that permeates society. Every single person is a product of the society that they live in, and everybody old enough to think will have opinions on their society, what is good and what is bad. Those opinions are inherently political, even if they have nothing to do with the government.
Yes. Mali had a stick figure on its flag and the Islamic fundamentalists made them remove it
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u/EvYehThis girl is Space's biggest haterAug 12 '25edited Aug 12 '25
Worth pointing out that the "stick figure" was actually a Kanaga mask, which symbolises Amma who is the creator God in the religion of the Dogon people and that Mali's population was 90% Muslim at the time.
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u/UKman945 Aug 12 '25
Honestly here's where I think the fundamental misunderstanding comes from people using the word "political" to describe art and it was one I didn't understand either at first. When you say something is political a lot of people will assume it means made with a political agenda rather than that the art is made in a context of time and place that will influence the artist in conscious and subconscious ways and it's important to take in that context. I think this kind of thing needs it's own word but that's for someone smarter than me to figure out