Thoughts on Kingsolver's The Lacuna and how we judge art and artists...

I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna (2009). It is a truly remarkable tale, one that focuses on the complicated relationship we have here in the US with artists (all creatives, really) who are political, and with political artists. And yes, there is a distinction to be made there.

She tells the story of a young man, Harrison Shepherd, born of an American father and a Mexican mother, and his complex relationship with people, artists in particular, and with his own inner struggles. He becomes a writer who is then excoriated by the government during the 1950s "Red Scare," all because he had worked for noted Mexican artists (Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo) and other communist revolutionaries (notably, Trotsky) as a young man living in Mexico. The press is easily led, people begin to shun him (even his closest male friend and his neighbors), and he becomes a ghost of himself. Even his publisher, who had made a lot of money off his work, canceled their relationship. Only his loyal stenographer remains by his side.

What I was particularly struck by is the way the novel walks that fine line between creator and creation; we can love the work, but not trust or admire the artist. And yet, how do we come to that distrust? Sometimes it is justified (think, Weinstein, for example), and sometimes the person has been unfairly targeted for political reasons. Once that shade is cast, the damage is swift and often unredeemable.

We are living in that atmosphere now, even more so with the instantaneous nature of social media and the internet. If art is one thing that can save us, that can record and hold onto what is good and noble while we sort out the messes, we need to allow for the fact that art is created by flawed humans, too. And that our perceptions of people can be tragically biased by what other people have to say, rather than our own lived experiences. We need to slow down, read carefully, check our sources, and consider our own possible biases. Not many people do those things, and it shows. Yes, quite often the disapprobation is justified. Sometimes, though, the court of public opinion is a kangaroo court.

A lot to think about.

Shelter your loved ones in your own sacred spaces.

C