The (Invisible) Art in Everyday Objects
Around my mother’s dinner table the other night, we were discussing the relationship between art and political movements. These types of conversations, at the intersection of art and society, are pretty much the only conversations we know how to have. Perhaps this is due to the fact that our family is composed nearly entirely of theatre makers, musicians, and visual artists. What usually begins as a conversation about a recently watched movie, favorite piece of music, or a photograph my sister just took will soon evolve into a larger conversation about the current state of our world— in terms of politics, economics, religion, globalization, social and environmental justice, and many other topics in between.
Our family has a very easy time making the leap from art to other aspects of society and human life. In fact, for us, it’s not much of a leap at all. After all, “all art is political”, as my mother so often reminds me, and artists are constantly reflecting on the world around them through their art-making. While I am not opposed to the concept of “art for art’s sake”, I think it is a bit of an unnecessary mental exercise to divorce the bonds between a piece of art and the societal conditions it is responding to. Art is not created in a vacuum, and artistry is imbedded in the fabric of day-to-day life.
“But not everyone thinks this way”, exclaims my mother, as she holds up a plate from her favorite, hand-painted dining set. “My friends don’t think about all the artistry that goes into making the things they use everyday. If I told them to think this way, they’d be baffled”. It’s true, not everyone looks at the plate on the dinner table and thinks about the potter who molded it or the painter who added the individual flourishes of paint. It is beautiful to them (or at least attractive), that’s why they bought it, yet the beauty is taken for granted. Little thought is given to the time, resources, and creativity that artists have dedicated to the creation of this everyday item. Even if an item is mass-produced, there are product designers, some of the most innovative artists of our modern day, who spent countless hours deciding the shape, weight, curve and color of this one object.
This type of supply-chain thinking takes a bit of time and creative thinking, but can be very enlightening!
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Take a plastic dinner plate for example. People like us need plates to eat off of. They want them to be pretty, non-breakable, easy to clean, etc. While local artisans and makers are everywhere, most often the items we purchase are produced by multinational corporations. These MNCs have a fraught legacy when it comes to their treatment of workers and relationship to the natural environment. See if you can figure out what MNCs your favorite brands exist under and check out their sustainability footprints. Did you know Walmart is one of the largest MNCs in the world? These MNCs have the funds but aren’t necessarily thinking artistically, so who do they hire? Product designers! These talented visual artists take time to make sure all the consumers desired needs are met and ensure the finished item looks beautiful. So we’ve got the design. It’s been approved by corporate. How does the item get made? Some things to consider:
What is the object made of? Plastic. Where does this plastic come from? Most plastic comes from the hydrocarbons found in oil, natural gas, and coal. Where does this oil and coal come from? These materials are extracted from the earth by individuals who are often underpaid, face health risks and dangerous working conditions. Most of this extraction (as well as manufacturing) takes place in the Global South where workers are paid, on average, less than $3 USD a day. Once the plastic is extracted what happens? It heads off to manufacturing companies to be made into plates. Who runs the machinery? Who decorates the plates? Who packages them? Where do they go then? What is the carbon footprint of their travel? How long will the plate last? What happens when I’m done with it? …
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Why don’t people think about the creation journey of the things they use everyday? I think this is largely a result of the incredibly rapid pace of our society. In addition, the global scale of supply chains in the modern era is difficult for many of us to wrap our heads around. Yet, if we don’t know where the things we use come from, is it possible to truly appreciate their value?
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are learning to do without things that were essential to our everyday. Not only are people suffering from loss of employment, lack of proper medical care and insurance, and lack of economic security, but with the “social distancing” and “shelter-in-place” orders as well as restrictions of public spaces like beaches, public parks, and trails, individuals are experiencing immense emotional stress without their usual means of recharging (i.e. gathering with friends, talking nature walks, visiting with family, etc.). People are scrambling to adapt and on the lookout for new ways of working, living, interacting, and relaxing.
In the past few weeks, the arts have proved themselves to be invaluable during this time of rapid change, providing both stress relief as well a way of connecting with other people. Time spent on social media and streaming services has skyrocketed. Free digital concerts, master classes, and performances hosted by artists (many of whom are facing huge challenges in terms of job insecurity in the current moment) are popping up all over Instagram, Facebook, and Zoom. Major cultural institutions have made their digital archives public and are finding innovative ways to reach the public, such as virtual museum tours. I’ve been listening to audiobooks, podcasts, and music everyday.
What would “life in quarantine” look like without the arts? What would we watch? How would we spend our time? To take this a step further, imagine for a second that every item that an artist/artisan has touched suddenly disappeared from your home. What would be on your coffee table? What would you hang on your walls? Would you even have a dining room table to eat at or a chair to sit on? With this broader perspective, it becomes evident how much artistry is integrated into what we use and what we do every day.
This is an unsettling and uncertain time. We do not know how long this “new normal” will last, and most people can’t wait to go back to the way things were. In many low-income and BIPOC communities, all individual efforts are directed towards staying afloat together. For immunocompromised individuals, newly unemployed workers, and homeless families, all mental capacity and physical resources are dedicated to survival efforts.
Amidst all the uncertainty and loss, however, this disruption to the patterns of society and of individual life offer us the opportunity to consider more deeply what our everyday is composed of. As essential workers brave contagion to keep our economies going and the health of our people stable, those of us privileged enough to have the chance to “pause”, as we work and learn at home, have an opportunity to think about the causes and effects of the things we do and how we do them.
In these moments of pause, I wanted to offer a short activity which considers the holistic “cradle to coffin” journey of everyday objects. Take 5 minutes around the dinner table to pick and object and consider it’s inception and creation. The following questions are designed to ignite thinking around the natural resources, human labour capital and artistry contained in these essential items:
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The Holistic Supply Chain Journey of _________
Select an everyday object and consider the following points:
Why do you like this object? What value does it hold for you personally? What makes this object beautiful?
Where did this object come from?
What natural resources were used to create it?
How were these resources extracted/gathered from the natural environment?
Who did the labor to gather these raw materials? What might their lives be like?
Who are the people involved in the creation of this object?
Who designed this object? Who contributed to the making of this object?
What journey did this object go on to get to you?
Where in the world did it travel from? What different places did it travel through? How did it get from point A to point B?
Who were the people who got this object to you (packagers, dock workers, mail workers, sales people, etc.)?
What does the end of life of this object look like?
How long will this item last?
What will happen to it once it no longer serves its purpose?
If it is disposed of where will it go? (Get curious about local recycling facilities and landfills!)
If the object does go to landfill, who lives near that site? Is there a history of environmental injustice in that area?
After thinking about the full life journey of this everyday object, do you view it differently? Has its value changed for you? Why or why not?
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These days, there is a lot on our minds. While caring for one’s mental and physical health takes priority, spending a few minutes thinking differently about the items we take for granted every day can be eye-opening. I hope this post and the related activity can serve as an invitation to broaden our perspectives and start thinking about what type of future we are striving for.
