PART 1: Research
Black Lives Matter “What We Believe”
We are all still hurt by the frightening and wounding events that took place last year. The tragic murder of George Floyd projected the Black Lives Matter Global Network’s presence to the mainstream audience even though it is actively working for several years. This manifesto, “What We Believe,” is a vital piece of text representing all the principles and facts that this community stands for. According to the article, Black Lives Matter Global Network identifies itself as a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission was to build local power and intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. This piece also includes information on how and why people decided or were forced to start this organization. According to the manifesto, Black Lives Matter stated its start as a call to action in response to state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. Together they stand for all Black lives regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status, or location. This manifesto marked me with how unapologetically and fearlessly it is written. In the future, I want to incorporate these essential principles in my own manifesto to create an equal and fair platform welcoming all.
The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist
This manifesto is by far the one that moved me the most. Even though I am not a woman, as an artist living in a male-dominant country, I can still feel the devastating and shameful position they put by society. The article “The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist” is a print made from a poster created in 1988, listing thirteen ironic points about the disadvantages of being a woman artist. It is written by a group of anonymous American female artists who call themselves the Guerrilla Girls. They protected their identities by using gorilla masks and using the names of deceased famous female figures as nicknames. For years they have been working to expose sexual and racial discrimination in the art world, particularly in New York, and in the broader cultural arena. Guerrilla Girls appropriated the visual language of advertising by preparing posters and pasting them all over the city. After several posters, they made their first appearance with their most famous piece, “The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist.” In it, they gave place to the most critical issues like women having to work twice as much as men in order to be labeled as successful. From my perspective, the line “Having more time to work after your mate dumps you for someone younger.” was by far the most truthful but at the same time ironic one. Revealing the disloyalty towards women in the most artful way inspired me to do the same thing in my manifesto.
At the Heart of Climate Change Is Politics
This manifesto is written by a group of political scientists and theorists. Their common aim is to spark conversation about climate change’s political underpinning and catalyze meaningful leftist climate action. In the manifesto, they represent climate change as a fundamentally political phenomenon resulting from power relations between people with opposing material and ideological interests. They even support that the way humans experience climate change is directly a result of people’s political realities. Corporations and states got enriched and authorized by fossil energy. Ironically, poor people, people of color, and subjects of gender oppression were the ones who were directly got affected by climate change. They also stand for the fact that climate change is a signifier for an on-going problem based on political and class-based issues. This group even strongly disagrees with the fact that climate change is a single bump in the road of history. To sum up, this manifesto claims that the trouble climate change is beyond an error of humankind. Instead, writers of this manifesto demand that it is a highly orchestrated issue created by the ones who are hungry for power and personal benefits. This piece inspired me to talk more about worldly matters like climate change or pollution, which also can have hidden truths behind them in my own manifesto.
The Bibliography
- “Black Lives Matter – What We Believe.” https://uca.edu/training/files/2020/09/black-Lives-Matter-Handout.pdf
- Guerrilla Girls. “The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist.” Tate. February, 2016. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-the-advantages-of-being-a-woman-artist-p78796
- Soren Dudly, Jonathan Guy, Samuel Miller McDonald, and Sam Zacher. “At the Heart of Climate Change Is Politics.” The Trouble. July 3rd, 2018. https://www.the-trouble.com/manifesto
PART 2: Your Manifesto
The Destructiveness Of Tomorrow
Will we be blessed by the presence of tomorrow, or will we wish tomorrow never came? The previous year ironically proved that we do not have any control over what the future holds for us. Time has the power of both to weaken and to strengthen. All the beings within its path who refuse to keep up with this change are convicted of vanishing. Rapidly passing time also leaves a trace behind, representing its mighty powers. Time holds the power of manipulating humankind as they live in a dollhouse. Time changes society’s needs and forces them to make changes in the way they construct their environments. So, it is no secret that our bedrooms are great signifiers of the way of living in that period. This fact makes us wonder how our constructed environments and our rituals will change in a matter of a few hundred years.
Bedrooms are our sacred places where even in some cultures is forbidden to enter without permission. Today, we use these spaces to ground ourselves from the chaotic nature o today’s world. Also, the decoration of these rooms is much more intimate than how we decorate the house’s common spaces. We usually take our time and construct a private environment using only the objects that have special meaning. Even though I support that this a great tradition, in the future, we will most certainly lack that. Few hundred years forward, I envision my bedroom in all tones of grey without any trace of grief or joy. Living on autopilot blunt people’s foreign point of view towards the world. With the absence of character and taste, there is nothing much for software to hold on to. Doing art and having a particular flavor is beyond the abilities of technology. I can feel the emptiness of the fully furnished room. The room is radiating a cold atmosphere, which signals that now you are a stranger to the room. This place is no longer a habitat for the resident. The sudden and unnatural shift in the environment whipped out the welcoming and possessive aura of the room.
The theme of rituals and spiritualism is based on ancient times. They go back to the periods when people needed gods and goddesses’ support to complete their daily tasks. With the passing time, other elements of spiritualism surfaced in the form of witchcraft, paganism, and variations of religions. Trough history, with the rapid development of the sciences, these supernatural aspects got overshadowed and eventually left to be forgotten. In the future, I suspect that these elements will exist as nothing more than just a symbol. People will turn their backs to their beloved spirits guides as an effect of getting blinded with daily desires that the time future offers them. In a matter of centuries, spiritual objects like crystals and tarot decks will be for the ones who resist this harsh and sudden development. These objects and the overall theme of rituals will also target the audience who are not blinded by the bright lights of time future and the minority, which is still genuinely connected to spiritual aspects. There is also another possibility that people will be changing their rituals to fit the future flow. In a symbolic way, people might worship materialistic or digital icons.
To sum up, the future of my constructed environment is for the ones whose beliefs and comfort zones will be drastically reshaped. From my point of view, this environment and the selected theme will eventually taste the destructiveness of tomorrow.
