A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom.
Amiri BarakaRead
The attempt to divide art and politics is a bourgeois which says good poetry, art, cannot be political, but since everything is … political, even an artist or work that claims not to have any politics is making a political statement by that act.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art is inherently political, and avoiding political themes in art itself becomes a political statement.
Amiri Baraka's quote emphasizes that the division of art and politics is a misguided notion. He argues that all forms of artistic expression, whether overtly political or not, ultimately reflect the political landscape and societal issues of their time. In denying the political nature of art, artists inadvertently make a political statement, as art cannot exist in a vacuum removed from the influences and realities of the world around it.
Themes
ArtPoliticsExpressionSocietyStatement
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on the intersection of art and society.
More from Amiri Baraka
All quotes →what is lost because it is most precious what is most precious because it is lost
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I am inside someone who hates me. I look out from his eyes.
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And now each night, I count the stars. And each night I get the same number. And when the stars won't come to be counted, I count the holes they leave.
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I am inside someone_x000D_ who hates me. I look_x000D_ out from his eyes. Smell_x000D_ what fouled tunes come in_x000D_ to his breath. Love his_x000D_ wretched women.
Amiri BarakaRead
Poetry is music, and nothing but music. Words with musical emphasis.
Amiri BarakaRead
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