A friend of mine posted a very vulnerable piece of artwork today and my first word about it was “speechless”. As in I’m in awe and I have no idea what to say. But I could feel it. I could feel what it meant to her.
But I wonder if the intent behind her work, and countless others artworks wasn’t to make people speechless but to be enraged, to be called to arms as to why things happened in the world that caused the emotion needed to create this.
For a moment I felt like I should have said something else, something more insightful, more compelling.
But what if great art is supposed to make us speechless? What if we need those moments of speechlessness in order to full form our opinions and our power? What if we need that time to fully feel the energy it speaks to us, to activate our own energy? Maybe it’s in those moments that the collective energy is activated to stand up and do something about it.
As I’m writing this, I’m shaking, knowing that this is true. Art needs to make us speechless first. We must stop in our tracks, have no words, and only feel it. We must take the time to drop into our core to feel what the artist felt, connect our own stories to it, and to feel the power rising inside us. As soon as that energy rises, then it’s time to speak up about things that have happened, what needs to change, or why this creates so much passion inside. Once we find our words, our power, our art, the mission begins.
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