The Art of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is around the corner, so it’s almost time to deal with family for a day, and for some of you, half a day. Some of our Thanksgiving traditions are different, but one of our traditions in America is awkwardly trying to annoy how our early settlers almost killed a whole race of people. Personally, my family has a tradition of listening to old R&B music, and one song always gets my family up and dancing, and that is R Kelly's “Step in the Name of Love”. I am aware of the elephant in the room and hopefully, when R Kelly is shuffled in the playlist it won’t be super awkward, but this begs the question: should we separate the artist from the art?
For some people the answer is obvious, of course we should separate the art from the artist. Even if you think we should separate artist and art, one must agree that the artist will still be on our mind when consuming the art. For example, if El Chapo wrote a book about how drugs are bad for humanity, I believe people will have a lot more intrigue about that book than any other book out at the time. Essentially, without the artist it wouldn't be any art, so it would be a little weird to completely annoy someone who put their thought and idea on an art that is present in the world. The dilemma between art and artist will always be apparent, but artist and art is not as important as the world it is in. The “World” is the people who consume, criticize and use art. What is art or what's not art is completely subjective, but because of that subjectiveness it will always rely on the people.
A mother that got a bundle up paper mache mess from their 6-year-old, then that would be art for the mother. Anyone else it would just be a paper mess. Art has some type of aura to it, like a feeling and context to it. Your parents know what you made doesn’t look good, but that mess you made has the aura of love from you. When your parents display it on the fridge, then anyone who comes into your house can recognize that it must have some type of special loving aura to it. The Mona Lisa can be considered an ugly woman and an ugly piece, but it is art because of the multiple aura people have on it. The amount it got criticized, replicated, and referenced in our society, shows the endless mirrors we see through the Mona Lisa. Even songs have that effect, I mean ask any Tik Toker. Now, what does any of this have to do with Thanksgiving?
Well, let’s consider Thanksgiving as a work of art for a second. The history is the artist, Thanksgiving is the art, and us celebrating Thanksgiving is “The World ''. Sure, what the artist did was terrible and unforgivable, and if we did have a time machine we can all agree that we would throw so many rocks at them, but look what Thanksgiving means to us now. We have a day when we sit down, talk, and eat with the people we care about. A day where we see random people at soup kitchens handing out food for people who need it. This day wants to make people fight even more for Indigenous people and their rights. No matter what November 25 is called, it is a day where we as Americans sit down in solidarity with the people we care about and spread the care from place to place. I’m thankful for the people in my life who keep on giving me hope, and I will enjoy my November 25th while steppin in the name of love.