Something that really jumped out at me was the development of Constructivism. It's really interesting that constructivism developed in 1913, only four years before the Russian revolution which resulted in the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks seizing power and the rise of the RSDLP and the eventual creation of the USSR and the rise of communism in Russia. I think it's fascinating that right before all of this happened, Russians started experimenting with art that served a purpose thereby following the ideals of Soviet Union. However it also made me think about propaganda and how some propaganda (zines, posters, etc.) could also technically be viewed community engaged art but we choose not to see it that way because, in most peoples' minds, propaganda is bad. The theatre group mentioned in the slideshow, Blue Blouse, is widely considered to have been a propaganda devise. I was also struck my the Anti-War Movements section in regards to propaganda. Personally, I usually don't view work that is anti-war as propaganda because I am anti-war. But I realised when going through this slide-show that it is propaganda even if I agree with it. So a question that emerged for me was what is the difference between community-engaged art or political art and propaganda? Is it perspective or is it a tangible thing? This same question also changed my understanding of community-based arts because in my mind using art to engage with communities, incite political/social change, etc. is a positive thing and should be done. But that's because most of the community-based art I interact with is in agreement with my political views. This slide-show really made me think about perspective in art and how the meaning, intentions, and connotations with art change based on a person's individual opinions.
Issues that have been impacting my life and the ones around me mainly revolve around environmental issues. One of the pressing issues that affects the agriculture community in California is the State’s distribution of water. Now a tactic that the State Government has had for many years is to take water from Northern California and send it down to the South. The south is in need of water as they do not get enough to support themselves, but the issue is a bit larger and encompuses the states refusal to create more reservoirs to store water to be used during the dryer months. But the main issue is that the focus is uneven and falls heavily on the side of sending it to the south instead of distributing it evenly so farmers in all regions but mainly central and southern california have the proper amount of water to grow their crops. California is one of the leading states in the production and exporting of agriculture products due to our vast and wide scale of geological environments, but ...
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