Month: August 2008

Anthony Papa: Art and Social Change

Unlocking the Power of Art to Counter Injustice

Anthony Papa via Counterpunch

The artist’s role as social commentator and activist has historically been engrained in our culture. Art and its creation as a response to social and political issues can become powerfully influential in raising public awareness that results in positive change.

Art as a social weapon has been around for a long time. Recall the great German expressionist painter Kathe Kollwitz, who created works of art that centered on themes such as poverty, unemployment and worker exploitation. Diego Rivera and the other Mexican muralists used their art as a tool for the oppressed against their oppressors. They expressed their opinions and got their message across to the literate and illiterate alike, and earned worldwide recognition. In April 1937, the world learned the shocking truth about the Nazi Luftwaffe’s bombing of Guernica, Spain – a civilian target; Pablo Picasso responded with his great anti-war painting, Guernica.

Few public policies have undermined fundamental human rights and civil liberties, social justice and public health for so long and to such an extent as America’s 35-year-long drug war. Today almost two and a half million people are behind bars because of this “war.” In 1988 while serving a 15-to-life sentence under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, I discovered my talent as an artist. One night while sitting in my 6 x 9 cell I picked up a mirror and saw the face of individual that was to spend the most productive years of his life in a cage. I picked up a paintbrush, put color to canvas and painted the image I saw. About seven years later that piece, titled “15 to Life,” was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Two years later I was granted executive clemency by the governor of New York.On Wednesday, September 3rd, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) will host re:FORM (details at www.drugpolicyevent.org ) an art auction and cocktail party benefit at Cheim & Read gallery in New York. re:FORM will benefit DPA, the nation’s leading organization promoting alternatives to the drug war that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. re:FORM represents the second installment in a groundbreaking partnership between the art world and the drug policy reform movement, following DPA’s first successful event in 2005. DPA will use the occasion to honor three dear friends of the organization: Donald Baechler, Dr. Mathilde Krim and Fred Tomaselli.

Proceeds from the art exhibit and auction will benefit DPA and be used to respond to the destructive consequences of the war on drugs. The U.S. now has the highest incarceration rate in the world — one American adult out of every 100 is currently behind bars.

Current “Political Fiction”

Summer Political Fiction: From Jessica Z to Black Clock 9

Man-eating sharks, James Bond-style villains with snow-white lap cats, superheroes in capes and tights saving the world. Mmmm, yes. Summer reading. The potent fantasy of sitting on the beach or by the pool — or at home with a hand-made paper umbrella in your rum-and-coke if you’re enduring a self-enforced “stay-cation” — and just losing yourself in a good book…

So you could be forgiven for not thinking about political fiction until the fall, especially given the recent release of the Ralph Reed fundamentalist snoozer, Dark Horse. But the fact is, this summer has seen the release of some engrossing novels (and one magazine) in which politics and social commentary take center stage. These texts reflect a post 9-11 sensibility that assimilates and responds to the last seven years of absurdity, horror, heartbreak, stupidity, and dueling cynicism-idealism. That many of these recommended reads use the near-future as a way to comment on the present shouldn’t surprise you. What writer really wants to dwell in the here-and-now given all the challenges facing the world? And who can really make sense of it all without a little distance?

For example, Shawn Klomparens’ Jessica Z (Delta, trade paperback) is set perhaps a year or two from now. It combines the concerns of literary fiction about sex and relationships with the kind of paralyzing sense of dread fueled by the continuing erosion of civil liberties. When San Francisco is hit by terrorist attacks, 28-year-old copy writer Jessica must cope with upheaval in both her public and private worlds. What’s normal post-attack, and who can be trusted? Jessica Z also quietly emphasizes the casual acceptance of torture into our current version of reality, along with the info-tainment quality of TV media. Klomparens’ particular gift is to embed the details of our self-induced dissolution into an erotic coming-of-age story that’s not only slyly funny at times but has aspects of a thriller.

Less nuanced, more direct, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother (Tor Books, hardcover) is Orwell for the teen set, a young adult tale of fighting back against a Department of Homeland Security run amok in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in San Francisco (apparently a popular target). Jailed and tortured, seventeen-year-old Marcus, a hacker, decides to take on the DHS. There’s little subtlety here — the bad guys are bad guys, the teens heroic and ultra-competent — but Doctorow’s understanding of modern technology and his ability to connect with the next generation make Little Brother as close to a handbook for the resistance as any novel yet written.In contract to Doctorow’s earnest realism, David Ohle’s

The Pisstown Chaos (Soft Skull Press, trade paper) deals in irony and absurdism. Parasite infestation has created new social pariahs and new opportunities for unscrupulous politicians. The United States has come to be ruled by Reverend Herman Hooker, an “American Divine,” a fascist in religious guise. The Balls family falls afoul of Hooker’s policies and is relocated to a detention camp. The story of their survival is told in intricate detail, with the Reverend’s desperate attempts to control the country serving as the backdrop. It’s hard to explain the power of Ohle’s compelling and potent approach to political commentary. His Reverend isn’t just a cartoon caricature and his family isn’t your normal clean-cut American nuclear unit, either. Somehow, Ohle manages to create three-dimensional characters and make some stark satirical points at the same time. Continue reading Current “Political Fiction”

Research on the Power of Story

The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn

Our love for telling tales reveals the workings of the mind

By Jeremy Hsu

As many as two thirds of the most respected stories in narrative traditions seem to be variations on three narrative patterns, or prototypes, according to Hogan. The two more common prototypes are romantic and heroic scenarios—the former focuses on the trials and travails of love, whereas the latter deals with power struggles. The third prototype, dubbed “sacrificial” by Hogan, focuses on agrarian plenty versus famine as well as on societal redemption. These themes appear over and over again as humans create narrative records of their most basic needs: food, reproduction and social status.

Happily Ever After
The power of stories does not stop with their ability to reveal the workings of our minds. Narrative is also a potent persuasive tool, according to Hogan and other researchers, and it has the ability to shape beliefs and change minds.

Advertisers have long taken advantage of narrative persuasiveness by sprinkling likable characters or funny stories into their commercials. A 2007 study by marketing researcher Jennifer Edson Escalas of Vanderbilt University found that a test audience responded more positively to advertisements in narrative form as compared with straightforward ads that encouraged viewers to think about the arguments for a product. Similarly, Green co-authored a 2006 study that showed that labeling information as “fact” increased critical analysis, whereas labeling information as “fiction” had the opposite effect. Studies such as these suggest people accept ideas more readily when their minds are in story mode as opposed to when they are in an analytical mind-set.

Works of fiction may even have unexpected real-world effects on people’s choices. Continue reading Research on the Power of Story