Gates, bridges, and the power of art

Art that is beautiful is welcome. However, it is images, words, and sounds that have power, that are needed.

A public art installation in Manhattan at the turn of the 21st century called, The Gates, is an example. The art installation was pieces of orange fabric suspended on thousands of steel frames throughout Central Park. The conceptual art wasn’t just meditative. An article in Smithsonian Magazine said that the order for steel in the steel bases kept the Charles C Lewis Steel processing plant from going out of business.

A woman who I call the Saint of Staten Island, Audre Lorde; says that art can evoke emotions that can be, not just a gate, but a bridge between people. 

“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them; and lessens the threat of their difference.”

If that sounds like pie in the sky, tree hugging stuff; consider an exercise the Bronx born musician—Knowledge Rules Supreme—KRS One often uses to teach people about consciousness.

KRS says we can hear things not spoken and see things not shown with the power of our minds.

People of faith may know this well. Our liturgies, scripture, and prayers have power!

May these spiritual tools and art bring us closer—not to anger; but to joy, to our neighbors, to God.