#I have noticed that people haven’t cancelled kahlo

[yournewfriendshouse]

as an artist I’m well aware that my art is often going to be interpreted in a million ways that I never conceived of, and some of them would be interpretations that I loathe and find fundamentally wrong. but I can’t control how people interpret my work. people will be interpreting it before it’s even finished. in art school and when I make proposals to be included in projects, people interpret them before they are even started.

but I create my work knowing that I’m just one artist making work in a long history of other works, in so many different disciplines. I’m just saying one thing in a massive conversation with millions of voices.

and so to hear people arguing that the best way to interpret a text or artwork is to completely disregard the creator’s context is super ignorant and just fucking wild to me.

you don’t need to know every artist and author and philosopher and news article that I consulted in my research for a piece but you should absolutely look at any artwork knowing there is a context.

you should look at every work knowing that there is context. every photograph you see was shot in one direction and not another, and what is in focus within that chosen frame is done on purpose. they chose which camera to use, which lens to use, how much light (information) is let through that lens…and it’s the same with every single creative discipline.

authors make a thousand decisions, choosing what thoughts and details and concepts to leave in their work, and what to take out. or what they never intended to include.

and then there are subconscious, instinctive decisions that we make that are shaped by our experiences and our paradigms. we aren’t unbiased. our creative impulses aren’t pure or untouched by bigotry or wrong thinking, and so acting like work can be wholly separated from the creator is wishful thinking.

often looking at the context also enriches your interpretation of their work. Frida Kahlo’s work is more wonderful when you understand the time and place she was creating from. her political situation and views. and then she went to paris and was working alongside people like Dali and other names we all know, ans they had their own political views that were distinctly european.

but then someone might say ‘kahlo was appropriating indigenous culture with her hair and dress, so I’m just going to ignore what she was coming from entirely’ … and what???? you’re going to enjoy her biographical works without thinking about the complex life she lived? that’s a fucking miserable thought quite frankly.

like it’s not illegal to do that but you’re going to be very disrespected by a lot of people

the biggest loss I feel when you disregard an author’s context, an author’s humanity, is that you miss out on an opportunity to learn.

not just from the author’s wisdom but also from their mistakes. and also from other people’s points of view and experiences, because the best way to interpret a work is to discuss it with other people.

art isn’t supposed to be experienced in a vacuum. it never was.