I wanted to show the history and strength of all kinds of black women. Working women, country women, urban women, great women in the history of the United States.
Elizabeth CatlettRead
I have always wanted my art to service my people - to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential. We have to create an art for liberation and for life.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the purpose of art as a means of empowerment and awareness for a community.
Elizabeth Catlett's quote expresses the aspiration for art to serve as a mirror for society, reflecting the identity and potential of the people it represents. It underlines the idea that art should not only entertain but also inspire and liberate individuals, urging creators to focus on creating works that foster awareness and improvement of the community's condition.
In practice
In a speech at an art conference about the role of art in society.
I wanted to show the history and strength of all kinds of black women. Working women, country women, urban women, great women in the history of the United States.
I hate acting when I see it. I don't want to feel it, I don't want to see it, I want to be taken away with the story - I don't want the actor's ego in front of me. That's what I try to live when I do the work.
Damn the age. I'll write for antiquity.
Photography is only intuition, a perpetual interrogation - everything except a stage set.
Governments have always been wary of the arts because they're wayward and ambiguous and because they deal with feelings rather than facts.
In cinema, the leading player is the director.
Those moments before a poem comes, when the heightened awareness comes over you, and you realize a poem is buried there somewhere, you prepare yourself. I run around, you know, kind of skipping around the house, marvelous elation. It’s as though I could fly.
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