Blog #4

I do not believe that art is a waste of time. Art has proven time and time again its usefulness in commanding attention to countless social and human rights issues. It is used to start a dialogue that leads to change; change that tends to be long lasting. Other TED talks gave examples of the impact of art but one in particular was most potent in my opinion. Titus Kaphar’s art commands attention to the unwillingness to acknowledge the humanity of black people in Art as they are often placed in the background, distance or behind white people. Kaphar places them at the forefront, at the center in front of everything and everyone else. In my brainstorming session, I wrote down bullet points from Kaphar’s argument about art’s relevance and ability to spark change and also points from the Effective Altruist argument of how art is irrelevant and how the efforts of artists would be much better relegated to concrete forms of change such as social work, community outreach, or donations to charities supporting positive change in the black community (in relation to Kaphar’s art works). I put Kaphar’s argument on the left of the page and the Effect Altruist argument on the right. The points I wrote down were the strongest and most useful ones for our upcoming essay. They often contradicted each other which will help especially when comparing and contrasting both viewpoints. Kaphar ignores the EA philosophy and is igniting dialogue which will lead to a positive change through his artwork.