Animals can communicate quite well. And they do. And generally speaking, they are ignored
Alice WalkerRead
At Sarah Lawrence, I realized that everybody was already what they were going to be. The painters were painting, the writers writing, the dancers dancing. And nobody wore any makeup. The art was uppermost.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the idea that individuals express their true selves through their art, free from societal expectations.
In this quote, Alice Walker shares her experience at Sarah Lawrence, where she observed that all the artists showcased their inherent talents without pretenses or superficiality. This environment allowed creativity to flourish as individuals embraced their identities, focusing on their art rather than conforming to external pressures like makeup or appearances. Walker highlights the purity and authenticity of artistic expression, suggesting that each person was already embodying their destined path as an artist.
Themes
ArtIdentityCreativitySelf-Expression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the importance of authenticity in art during a creative workshop.
More from Alice Walker
All quotes →June Jordan, who died of cancer in 2002, was a brilliant, fierce, radical, and frequently furious poet. We were friends for thirty years. Not once in that time did she step back from what was transpiring politically and morally in the world. She spoke up, and led her students, whom she adored, to do the same.
Alice WalkerRead
On a spiritual level, it's as though with my sighted eye I see what's before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what's hidden. It's illuminated life more than darkened it.
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I think 'The Color Purple' is so bursting with love, the need for connection, the showing of the need for connection around the globe.
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How long will it take the citizens of the United States, one wonders, to recognize that the house their country bombed in Iraq is the same one they were living in until it was foreclosed?
Alice WalkerRead
One white man on the platform in South Carolina asked us where we were going--we had got off the train to get some fresh air and to dust the grit and dust out of our clothes. When we said Africa he looked offended and tickled too. Niggers going to Africa, he said to his wife. Now I have seen everything.
Alice WalkerRead
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Instead of using the machine as a metaphor for architecture, as Le Corbusier did, I use the human body. I want the public to know that it's them I'm designing for.
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The most important thing is you can't write what you wouldn't read for pleasure. It's a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can't say you're going to write romance when you don't even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it.
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