Writing Challenge #3

Revisions: I expanded on Ruqeyeh’s view point on photography not truly being art and changed some wording for my analogy.

Ibn Ruqeyeh and Jenika both tackle this issue. According to Jenika’s article “Photography Isn’t Art.” “The problem, of course, is that “art” is a valuable category, but there are no clear yellow-and-black stripes that stand out to say “this is art.”” (Jenika, 2013). Art is meant to be a form of self-expression regardless of the medium. There is no one and nothing that can really define art being Art. On the other hand, Ruqeyeh’s article “Why Photography Isn’t Art” argues that art has to focus on representation, and that photography doesn’t effectively do that. “A painting is art because of how it represents — how it communicates and transmits ideas. With respect to the photograph, we’re not interested in the picture itself. Instead, what captures the attention, the only thing(s) doing any representation-work, are the subjects. […] That is the reason why photography isn’t art.” (Ruqeyeh, 2015). I agree that art should communicate and transmit ideas, but I also disagree that all photography only focuses on the subjects and that photography doesn’t communicate and transmit ideas. Evidently, photography can be performed under a more documentarian style, and in that case I agree, but wouldn’t the most hyper realistic painting of a swan convey that same documentarian feeling? Once again, medium is just medium; it is merely a tool to express anything the artist desires to express. 

New lead: I was late to my math class, like super late. The type of lateness that merits a bit of yelling and humiliation. As I paced through the hallways as a young seventh grader, I came to an abrupt stop. There it was in big letters, plastered across a huge painting of a globe; “The earth without art is just “eh””. This statement clinged on to me. Maybe too much. Halfway through that math class after receiving that bit of yelling and humiliation, I stopped working. I couldn’t concentrate. As someone who’s never really cared about art due to the lack of emphasis it was given in my elementary school, it felt like a desperate call for action. I wanted to become an artist, but I didn’t know what the word “art” even really meant.