Activism in Art

      Activism in art can move between the lines of commentary and artistic experience. Activist art can influence social change by engaging in contemporary issues like politics or social justice. It acts as a statement of protest. It also be a form of experience because the art can shift and offer a perspective. It’s a creative process and when an audience is engaged in the work of art it is presented as not only a piece of work but as a work of art that transforms into an experience. Art offers an alternative expression for activism. Two artists that would be considered activists are the Guerrilla Girls and Ai Weiwei. As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese government’s stance on democracy and human rights. Guerrilla Girls are female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. 

Ryan Garrett's Things to Remember

1. Considering the articles you've read for class today, which documentary mode or modes does the film borrow from? Please explain specific elements from the film to support your observations.

Expository: It has parts of the film that were educational like the explanation of place and why it was kept off limits to the public as well as provided visuals as the narrator kept speaking. 

Participatory: There were excerpts of personal interviews from a couple of people in the town as well as a Japanese photographer that was near by the destruction of the town when the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima 

Poetic: the filmmaker emphasized cinematic values to create a visual narrative like shot designs of William Eggleston’s photography and the other photographer that took shots of the quarantined town. There was also a slow paced rhythm with the music choice. 

2. Why do you think the filmmaker chose to automate the voice of the narrator? What does it add or detract from the film?

I think they chose an automated voice for the narrator to be an experimental element because it does not feel human or personal at all. It’s more like a robot is narrating throughout the whole film without emotion and the voice sounds cold. 

3. What were some of the more experimental aspects of the film in terms of image and storytelling?

The automated voice over, the visual compositions for the separate parts of the film highlighted by individual white text and visuals, the way the photographs were shown, the recount of the story told by the Japanese photographer with text over an image and the low quality video footage of the fire that happened in the library.

4. Does the film come across as a work of fact or fiction? Why?

The film comes across as a work of fact because there is evidence such as video footage and photos from that period of time and interviews.