The Communication and Community of Art

"To be means to communicate [sic]." Mikhail Bakhtin

My husband once asked me why I write.

"So that others will know they're not alone," I answered.

At the time, I hadn't read C.S. Lewis's similar line that we read for the same reason, but it's nice to know I'm in good company.

Sitting at my computer, I collect my experiences and knowledge of the human existence and explore them in different characters and situations. In this act of creation, I discover more about God and humanity. I wrestle through the sorrows, joys, failures, and triumphs of this thing we call life. Through art, I respond to God and his movement in his creation at large and in me specifically.

And then I set this response, this discovery, out into the world.

Isn't this part of the human existence, too? This vulnerability, this desire to be known and to know others through my art. Tertullian said that the essence of personhood is the ability to communicate. The art we create is not a dead artifact upon its completion. It invites the response and engagement of others.

In fact, this is why Rembrandt's self-portraits or Chagall's "White Crucifixion" or Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" are more than relics marking a time past. These works continue to invite our responses. They continue to engage us. They form a community that transcends time and space. In this way, while art must always be timely, it can also be timeless. It may embody cultures and personalities, but it transcends them, creating a community that is universal and historical.

There's a reason communication and community share etymological roots. These works of art, these books of old and sculptures of ancient figures and plays staged in yesteryear, draw us together and let us know that we are not alone. We do not have a solitary existence. The human experience stretches beyond my neighborhood, beyond my politics, beyond my family. At the same time, I embody the larger human experience in these very areas.

In this community of art, I discover I'm not alone. Art collects the misfits, gives them community, and finds them homes to embody God's presence in the world. Art may begin with self-expression, but it doesn't end there. The partners of discovery and communication drive us to create and drive us to share. By offering up our works, indeed offering them for critique and interaction, we join a larger aesthetic, theological, and essentially human community.

Heather A. Goodman sets forth her meager offerings in the larger community of art and literature to join the discussion of humanity and God's presence in it. Sometimes this is in short story or novel or short film. Sometimes this is in dancing in the living room with her nieces.

Comments

[kelly]

Brilliant, Heather.