Art Rant

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Grade 12 begins and so does the pressure put on teenagers by parents and teachers
to figure out their whole professional life. As if the idea that at 17 years of age, highschoolers are supposed to know what they want from, essentially, their whole life isn't already scary enough; there are all these added expectations of picking a "practical" career. I've said this before here and I'll say it again, louder, for the people in the back, do something because you're passionate about it and not because it'll make you money. I could go off on a whole other tangent about this but, I want to address the stigma associated with careers in art and other unconventional fields.

Any art form- painting, drawing, dancing, acting, film making, music, photography- originates from a place of creativity and true, raw passion and nobody chooses it because it's the easy way out. I have had countless number of people tell me that I'm smart enough to make a successful career in science and that I'm wasting my potential by drawing all the time, this statement is unsettling. When I am passionate about art why would I waste my whole life pursuing a career that appears to be a burden to me?

Someone told me a while ago that art won't change the world. True, art will not help us cure cancer or set foot on mars but according to me, scientific breakthroughs aren't the only milestones of humanity. Art connects with people in a way that transcends algorithms and formulas. Books change lives, paintings convey ideas and invoke feelings, music provides solace to millions, photographs immortalise moments, design makes the world as we know it possible. Art is powerful, art ignites social change and makes us a better species.

The bottomline is: next time you meet an artist don't take them for granted, their work has power. Their passion is worthy and cannot be dismissed.

xx

Ritz