Pièce De Ré·sis·tance

A lot of us define the term "art" as different things. Some of us think it's just a pretty picture of an object, Others think it's the image of the definition of certain words and phrases. Although these are all plausible examples of what art is, we've come up with a more refined way of looking at it in our course of Rhetoric. We viewed art as anything in any form that has a meaningful purpose. To get insight into this, we spoke to the creators of A Complete Waste Of Your Time And Money. They use humor to relax people into looking at specific topics. For example, they used this method with the recent election and getting people to vote for Joe Biden. Using humor in this way allowed people to relax about the election while still being consensually swayed into voting for him. For this AP we had to come up with a similar piece. We had to come up with an art piece of any form and explain what was special about it.

I'm not one to draw or paint, but I think my piece came out pretty good. Regardless of how well it looks, it has more of a deep and thoughtful meaning than that of the aesthetical. I'm JH, an African American high school junior with a passion for social change. My piece is on the expectations and stereotypes that bound us black folk to our current circumstances rather than elevating us to our potential. As elementary as it may seem this piece's message is that black people have the power and ability to bounce back and rise up against any strife. Whether it be systematic oppression or simple negativity from people who don't want us to succeed; We miraculously seem to get right back on track. I chose this message for this piece for two reasons. The first is that many black youth, in particular, become intimidated when it comes to finding success. The main reason for that is because of discouragement from peers or our entire social system. The second reason I chose this topic for this piece is that there needs to be a constant flow of art that represents what the black community should and does stand for. Sure there's a lot of art that is pro-black, but how much of it stays in the mix of our daily lives? How much art that uplifts the African-American spirit is constantly spewed into our routines? Now when I say art, I don't necessarily mean a piece of paper with some nicely colored pictures, I mean any expression that has a message. Of course, for this project, I chose to take the more traditional approach of a piece of paper and some colored pencils, but black art is seen in many forms. Murals, comedy skits, podcasts, TV shows, and music are just a few examples. As a young person growing into an image of what the black community should be, I want this piece to resonate with you. I want the chain around the large silhouette and the negative wording around the border to sit in your soul and feel what I feel. I want the street leading to the large silhouette and the globe around it to give you a sense of love and hope for me. And lastly, I want my words to strike you in such a way that makes you feel compelled enough to help us, fight for us, and uplift us into what we can be instead of what we are told we are.