What does art mean to me?

Art is everything around you. It is everything you create that comes from a place within. It is everything created around you that evokes certain feelings. The colors and patterns of nature. Songs made by a close friend. A child playing an instrument. Paintings in a museum made by those going through hardship. The beauty about it is, each person possesses their own feelings. No two experiences are the same, and we are able to see this as we become observers sharing nothing but a passion. Sharing nothing except the special feeling that comes with creating, the feeling that comes with completing. Sharing nothing except that special feeling that comes with knowing we are moving and being moved by others. 

Art is subjective. It is the emotion and energy that is both portrayed or observed from a person, the artist and/or the viewer. When portrayed, it becomes filled with the artist’s experiences, but after it exclusively leaves the artist’s perception, the viewers create their own experiences. We all have a love for the same things that we see so differently. 

To me, art is the epitome of feeling. We feel things so deeply that we want to do nothing more than portray it in a physical form, to bring it to life outside one’s being. To tell a story without telling the full story. We go as far as broadcasting these feelings and inviting others to observe, even though they don’t know the full story. We allow them to make judgements on our pain, we allow them to see us at our most vulnerable points. As hard as it gets, we keep creating because it is what keeps us going. 

Art is what keeps us from burning holes in souls that are already broken. It motivates us to hope for the next day. To keep strong community and maintain relationships. It takes us to old heights and new depths. Art gives us endless possibilities and many worlds to look through different lenses to understand. There are no rules, no limitations, just real, raw experiences. 

The question of what art means to me is quite easy, yet I have a different answer each time I’m asked. It’s hard for me to have one solid explanation about something that makes up a majority of my world, a majority of my person. Expressing myself with art is quite literally all I know how to do. It’s what I was programmed to do, it’s what I was created to do. To me, art is everything and everything is art.

-ida ☆