Page 58 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 34
P. 58
Art & Cultur e
Art & Culture
thoughts within the art, you can tell that he The evidence you have, even though you do
has managed to shift the story away from the not yet see what you hoped for, is the word of
pain of his loss to that of reminding himself God spoken to you. The word spoken to you
of the beauty of his young daughter. So is the evidence that what you hoped for in
instead of painting the horror of his loss, he faith will come to pass. It means you trust the
painted his joyful memory of his daughter. I One who gave the word to bring it to pass.
find that very beautiful. But there is another aspect of faith that says
“Faith without works is dead”.
What that tells me is that stories have the
power to shift and change perspectives and What does it mean? It means that whatever
engineer how we see and accept life. you have been told which created within
you faith and hope, will not come to pass if
Human history you do not apply work or works to it. Also,
Human history is full of stories. In fact, unlike what most people think, faith is not
history is the stories, cultures, traditions, blindness or ignorance of reality but a shift of
challenges, and victories of peoples and trajectory due to knowledge.
communities woven together to form a
painting on the canvas of time. Back to art.
There are loads of things that come to us
This means that as we all make decisions and from the mind of the Divine that create
choices, as communities and nations make conversations within our souls. These are
decisions and choices daily, we are not only faith points that we have received and they
creating history but we are also painting our are valid and powerful, but until we can
stories on the canvas of time. The question express them (work them) into our daily
is, what would you like your life’s ART lives, they will be as dead as dry logs in the
to look like when someone looks at it in a woods. And same is true with ART.
hundred years when you are long departed? Inspiration and thoughts do not become
Something to think about. art until they are acted upon and given
expression on the outside. According to my
Art without a story is dead definition, ART is the Ability to Recreate
The biblical definition of faith is “faith is the Thoughts.
substance of things hoped for, the evidence Here is a thing I find curious though: there
of things not seen”. are more people with art galleries in their
But how do you have a piece of evidence for minds than there are physical art hanging on
a thing that you have not yet seen or which the walls of homes or public galleries. But
has not yet happened? The answer lies in why? For whatever reason they may have,
another scripture: “Faith comes by hearing they did not give expression on the outside
and hearing by the word of God”. And what to the art on their inside. Therefore, all
this means is this. that huge collection of art in their minds is
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