Happy blog day readers!

The past few weeks in ASTU have had a primary focus on the craft of poetry and specifically last week a focus on poetry dealing with 9/11. Personally, I found the in class discussions we had last week to be the most compelling thus far this year. Hearing everyones different and similar interpretations of the assigned poetry was really cool. A particular area of discussion that stuck with me from last week was on the topic of poetry or art in general that greatly offended people around the time of 9/11.

I certainly understand how art dealing with such a sensitive issue would be capable of striking many individuals as offensive, but I definitely wouldn’t hold the art or the artist to blame. This topic came up in class when we discussed the “Falling Man” poem and the “Tumbling Women” statue. Apparently both artists received a tremendous amount of criticism for their controversial pieces and were even subject to death threats. The “Tumbling Women” statue was actually removed from the Rockefeller centre because people were so offended. Hearing this in class was not exactly surprising to me, but it was certainly disappointing. I believe that all art that arrived during the period of 9/11 should be appreciated for what it was because it was such an essential time for art production. With individuals worldwide enduring so many overwhelming emotions all of a sudden, art would serve as a tool to reconcile those complex emotions and let people focus in on one thing at a time, to grasp certain feelings through personal interpretation. As for the artists experiencing the trauma of 9/11 I can only imagine there not being a much better time to express oneself. Working with so many emotions brings a  great deal of inspiration for an artist and I personally don’t think society can put restrictions on the ways in which artists wish to express their feelings on the issue.

I believe that art shouldn’t be oversensitive to the emotional reactions of the audience because art should always be playing off emotion. To remove a piece of art or threaten an artists life over a controversial piece of art is absurd to me. How can an artist feel free to put forward their creative work while worrying about how people will interpret it? What I consider to be one of the most valuable aspects of art in general is that it can be widely open for interpretation.

But if you disagree or have a stance on the issue sound off with a comment!

Thanks for reading,

A.J.