Beyond self-expression

It is a privilege to be on staff with Curator Magazine, a web publication of International Arts Movement (IAM). Today, I feel this more strongly than ever before. This post moved me. Written by IAM founder and visual artist Makoto Fujimura, it powerfully expresses a way to think about and respond to global catastrophe. A quote:

Artists are generative by nature, but our current obsession with self-expression truncates the experience of our full humanity. We need to listen to what our hands, our eyes and our ears are detecting. Through intuition, the artistic process often reveals surprises that not even the artist anticipates.

As I implore artists to go beyond self-expression, I implore the church to do likewise. For example, rescue efforts are not about our self-expression but about pouring the incarnate love of God into the lives of those suffering. We need to weep with them and 'waste' time by being there with them; we need a long-term commitment to befriend and follow up, rather than perform a 'hit and run' rescue effort. However, I am not dismissing the importance of people that provide for the basic needs of those in crisis.

The key to communicating our core message of generative work is to operate out of sheer love for people ...

Read the full post from Fujimura here. How will you be generous, move beyond self-expression, and impact the next generation?