Creativity is an act of defiance. I know you probably don’t want to hear another fucking word about the current President of the United States and the oligarchs in power, but it is the end of a long January as I write this, and today I am choosing expression over escapism. Yes, there is time, space, and need for both–now and in the years to come.
But, for now, we must balance action and retreat to reserve our energy to fight for a better world. To create a better world. To draw or write a mirror of the one we live. To imagine a place to hide or a place to drown in ecstasy. To unearth the horrors of our mind and examine them as a coping mechanism. To construct solvable mysteries and problems to contrast a world with few clear solutions. Art has so very many uses.
Creativity is an act of defiance. The veneration of our unique inner life flies in the face of authoritarian rule. Creativity is practical in the sense that nothing practical matters without it. Creativity is the difference between existing and living. The difference between being only a function, (teacher, factory worker, business owner, housekeeper, farmer, . . .) and being a fully individual being. Creativity reveals who you are beyond the purpose you serve to others
When the oppressive powers ask, “Why teach the masses anything that is not ‘useful’ for their adult work?” creativity responds, “Fuck you. I refuse to be a cog in your machine.” Creativity is your playground when you are young and your refuge when your body fails you. Guard it. It is your saferoom in hard times.
Creativity is an act of defiance. AI is out there building shoddy shacks cobbled together from debris fields of misinformation and scraps ripped from the houses of art and literature. The result won’t keep you warm, but it will keep you trapped. It produces the smooth sameness of hotel room prints and the emotional depth of a greeting card.
In the latter half of the 1860s, the markets of Munich exploded with art that was a quick and cheap imitation of original works. It came to be known as kitsch. It wasn’t bad because it was popular or because it was cheap. It was bad because it wasn’t creative; it was derivative.
Now, the tech oligarchs are telling us to let go of ourselves and let the machine write our words and create our art. Instead of taking away the drudgery and leaving us with the artful work, they want to take away the artful work and leave us with the drudgery. Creativity says, “Fuck you. I own my mind, my words, my visions.”
Creativity is an act of defiance. It is possibility and variety. It tells you the future is open to you personally, and there is more than one way to thrive. It invites you to take new and different perspectives. It promotes empathy and frees you to find your truth.
It is no coincidence that so many othered people are drawn to the arts, both as creators and as consumers. In creative worlds, there is more space for difference. I am in no way cleansing the arts of its well documented prejudices and predations, but I am saying in creativity, there is freedom to be yourself and to recreate yourself. There are niches to see yourself represented.
Creativity is an act of defiance. Today you might not have the strength or the spoons to stock a local food pantry, educate someone on protecting themselves from ICE, call politicians to demand protections for our transgender friends and family, storm the streets to advocate for reproductive rights, or write an editorial demanding transparency and equity in employment and policing.
Today, you might be under attack personally or as a part of the general public. But I hope you find the energy to make something or support someone else’s work. I hope you have a moment to read something, see something, experience something creative. It counts as a good in the world because creativity is an act of defiance.