Peace and...Revolution?

Don’t you just love Bruegel’s Tower of Babel? Or maybe like me it’s driving you nuts if you’ve spent days, weeks even, drawing it in new etchings and mezzotints. I thought I’d done with it a while back, but no, here it is again. 

It’s significant though as Babel continually represents two things for me. Firstly there is the recognition of what can be achieved through cooperation and collaboration; when we collectively put our differences aside and work towards a common goal.

However, there is also a warning to heed. It comes back again to the two words that I try to let govern my attitudes and responses in life. Compassion and particularly coexistence or cooperation. The history of Babel shows what can also happen if we become self satisfied, arrogant, self righteous, demanding our rights irrespective of the rights of others. Cooperation and coexistence collapses and integration, well, disintegrates!

A bit about the new works…

The new work called “Of Divine and Scientific Truth” (above), the text along the lower part touches on openness, being the opposite of fundamentalism which has a flattened one dimensional view of the world. It states that “…unless one is part of a cult, there is always the opportunity to consider new information at one’s disposal and to change one’s mind.”

“Rare Earth” (above) with its virus/globe image is centred around how conspiracy theories fill the need to believe in the face of anxiety and uncertainty. Intriguingly not all of those who peddle conspiracy theories actually believe them as recent court cases in the UK and USA have demonstrated. There is a business to run and money to be made. In promoting conspiracy theories, the point is to get people used to the idea that everything is a lie, that there is no truth. And once they accept that…biggest liar wins.

But to finish on a hopeful note, “The Ghost of Conflict Past” is the positive one of the bunch here. In the words Peace and Revolution I have flipped letters “evol” mirror image so that it looks like the word “love” (as in Peace and Love). Russell Brand did that on the cover of his book Revolution. Pretty cool.

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Peace breeds love, love bleeds peace, and the world longs to bleed...

Someone said to me recently that “art should be above politics”. I was kinda stunned. Maybe their art is about other stuff, good and wholesome stuff in its own right and I accept, respect and applaud that. And if their art is above politics then that’s fine.

Making art for me is not an occupation though, but a way of life. If I am concerned for the well-being of others then it will reflect in my life choices. I try to seek out and buy fair-trade goods over other brands. I actively support cooperative, responsible consumerism and ethical banking. I am not affiliated with any political party so I can support those politicians who address issues of social injustice and exclusion. I ain’t blowing my own trumpet here. I am pointing out that making my art is no different to all the others aspects of being me.

Making art, as a way of life therefore revolves around the same two overarching considerations. Two words that constantly sum up what I am and try to do. Two words; compassion and coexistence. 

See the new works at stuartduffin.com

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And the winner is....SELF!

In this new age of individualism, it seems no longer possible (or desirable) to give up self to a greater cause. Is this because greater cause IS now self?

Initially I’d agree that the rise in awareness of the individual has done much good in our society. It has given us human rights and protection for the vulnerable for example. But when driven solely by individualism, it is also easy to retreat into our own private worlds, becoming the centre of our own universe, often thoughtlessly, carelessly at the expense of others.

Eliza, the psychotherapist computer built in the 80’s (before A.I.) can shed some light on this for us. Eliza, as a preprogrammed, non thinking machine didn’t understand a single word that was being typed into her by the “patient” but everyone who tried Eliza became engrossed. Eliza demonstrated that, in an age of individualism, what made people feel secure was having themselves reflected back to them, just like a mirror. 

Powerful algorithms today, collecting vast amounts of our personal online behavioural data now organise the world that is centred around that person, the individual. And in an age of anxious individualism, this is reassuring. Just like the scenario with Eliza  this can become, among other things, a safe bubble that protects us, isolates us even, from the complexities of the world outside. 

When we’re anxious, we have a need to proactively seek out information as an explanation of what’s going on. But at the same time research shows when we are anxious we also experience a paradoxical inability to process any form of complexity, which means that we are even more susceptible to bad information. Found in abundance in both news and social media, this frequently takes the form of simplified solutions at best to misleading or false information and outright conspiracy theories at it’s most damaging worst.

In his documentary “Bitter Lake”, Adam Curtiss points out that over the last seventy or eighty years human society has developed a tendency to over simplify our increasingly complex and confusing world in order for us to cope with it, emotionally and mentally.  The result is that social reality is now becoming more and more untethered from physical reality. The adoption of “alternative facts” (and I quote that phrase from a former US presidential adviser to Donald Trump) to govern our actions is yet another step removed from the real world.

Since I wrote this blog just under a fortnight ago, Vladimir Putin has almost unilaterally engaged in a war on Ukraine and threatens anyone who intervenes with a potentially nuclear retaliation. Two weeks ago he said “there is no plan to invade Ukraine”. Two days ago he said “the war is going to plan”. Vladimir Putin is the absolute centre of his own universe and therefore not answerable to anyone else. Rather than being the winner, it may yet transpire that the loser in his case may well be…self.

A bit about the new works.

“Peace, Perfect Peace” (above image) harks back to what I have said in the past about peace being not just an absence of conflict, but a complete physical, mental and emotional well-being. But it is a fragile state of being. Written into this image are the words “…forever balanced on the brink…” somewhat prophetic given the current war in Europe.

“Between now and the next” (left) relates very much to what I’ve been writing about. It’s the need to find solutions coupled with the compulsion to simplify everything in order to cope. Hence the rise of antagonistic conspiracy theories and fake news.

“A Blinding Rush of Wings” (left) continues with these concerns. Graffitied on the back wall are the words order and chaos.

Hope heals the hardest blows

I think I have finally learned something. 

At some point we are all likely to suffer a loss in life. Whether that’s a loss of someone close, a loss of our faculties (significant hearing loss in my case) or a loss of security (job, partnership or home for example). And if, in the past, we knew of someone who has suffered recent loss then we may have empathised with them, offering our sympathies and soon after perhaps to carry on with our own stuff as normal. Life goes on, as they say.

But maybe that was in the old days. Life no longer just goes on as normal because this pandemic has put very single one of us on the planet in exactly the same position of existential threat and loss. My loss is your loss and your loss is mine. Ultimately, no one is safe until we are all safe.

So what do I think I have learned? It’s taken me most of a lifetime to finally get this and realising the absolute necessity of putting it into practice. It’s simple. We all need to look out for each other. Each and every one of us because we are all in this together. 

For me it comes back to those two key words I have often mentioned that I try to let govern my attitudes and actions in life. “Coexistence” is one of them, but these days we especially need to be proactive in our “compassion”. 

About the new work….

“Our Better Angels” (above) is definitely touching on this topic of compassion. The Angel (this one I composed from nine different cemetery sculptures) is willing to get burned attempting to restore or rescue a situation. Likewise the doves over the burning book made me think of a burnt offering, something of ourselves to be sacrificed for the well-being of others. “There is hope - there is a future” reads the stencilled statement on the back wall.

On the subject of hope, the title for “Hope Heals the Hardest Blows” (above) is taken and altered from a line by a songwriter friend of mine. I replaced the original word deals with heals. And while I can totally relate to the original line through my own life experiences, I do believe that hope for a better future can heal the present. That allows for us to survive the future when it comes, whatever it holds. Hope might not make stuff in the present easier but it does make said stuff possible.

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Where there is hope there is a future

When I was a kid, the future, we were told would be known as “the atomic age”. How wrong did that turned out! No one could have foreseen the silicon (and therefore digital) revolution which has altered the course of our contemporary civilisation. Writer and inventor Arthur C. Clarke came close in the 1960’s though when he said “in the future we will be able to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere in the world, without even knowing where that person is”. 

That future is now and has become “the age of information”.

It has also become the age of socio-political misinformation. This is inextricably linked with the rise of Individualism across much of the civilised world. It is now the individuals right, not only to believe what they want but to condemn the beliefs of everyone else as false. Of course, not everyone does it. But even though it has been happening for millennia, what is different is that it can be now be done globally with such ease (as Arthur C. Clarke predicted) and that the boundaries between verifiable fact and subjective opinion are becoming blurred. 

Take for example the rocket attack on the Eiffel Tower several years ago. The “report” that it was under attack showed a video of the tower at night belching smoke and illuminated by huge explosions of light. It went viral and was reposted globally. It was in fact proven to be old footage of national celebratory fireworks display. No such terrorist attack on the tower ever took place.

Why do we believe such claims without checking them out thoroughly? Answer, because we want to believe them. On the surface, such “reports" are often only halfway credible. Wanting to believe does the rest. In an uncertain world, human nature has shown that it is ready and willing to believe in simple and often irrational explanations for complex and often frightening circumstances.

It seems to ring true that what matters is not that you tell the truth, what matter is that they believe you.

Furthermore, the rise of individualism has has the potential to corrode the capability, or even the desire to act with empathy towards others for the common good. In this era of individualism, it could become no longer desirable to give up something of self to a greater cause when the greater cause IS self.  

Is there hope of any sort? Yes! Despite how the news and media may portray it, statistically we are living in a less physically violent world.* A more positive consequence of Individualism has given us a code of human rights; recognising that each person is unique and valued. Many religions also promote this. Are we are seeing a move towards a less psychologically violent world too? The ever expanding recognition of alternate lifestyles and orientations seems to suggest we could be.

It is not inevitable though. It is something we need to continually work on. It has been conclusively demonstrated that empathy and coexistence with others can be learned through social inclusion and education. As I have said before, building walls is the easy answer, building bridges, though difficult and demanding is the smart one.

A bit about the new works……….

I have definitely touched on this in most of the new works by trying to take an empathetic approach with “The Word on the Street Is…” (top image) and “Crisis= Danger+Opportunity” (below) where the writing on the back wall states, where there is hope there is a future. See all of the new work on my website.

*Steven Pinker claims in Enlightenment Now that we live in a less violent society. While statistically that may be true of homicide or physical attack, it doesn’t take into account the psychological trauma and abuse caused by social media mis- and dis-information along with cybercrime and online bullying. Comparing the nature of today’s violence with that of the prehistoric or medieval worlds is incomplete.

The aim of argument is not victory, but progress (aka, how to disagree better)

© Stuart Duffin 2021

Have you ever thought that no one really wins an argument? Often it seems there are only those that lose it more and those who lose it less.

So, is it only me, or is it still hard to find carefully reasoned argument or discussion on much of the social media outlets? While it’s good thing that such outlets have empowered people, many now see the alternative media universe on social media as representing them more than the established newsrooms that have long ago gained a respected creditability.

The reason for this seems to be the filter bubbles that personalised (news) feeds create for us, forming places that serve to confirm our already preconceived worldview. There is a higher chance of misinformation or misleading “reports” spreading more quickly. I’ve blogged about this before.

The rise in believing that “alternative facts” (as former President Trump councelor Kellyanne Conway called them) actually exist without comprehensive proof, can make it harder for two sides to engage.  Alternative opinions exist of course but a proven verifiable fact isn’t altered just because I don’t believe it.

So here’s an old fashioned term I was reminded of recently. It’s called “critical thinking”. And we can use it to disagree better because disagreeing isn’t so much the problem, it’s how we do it! We can actually agree to disagree. That means we don’t have to aim at “winning” an argument.

First tip I read, and in my online experience it's a vitally important one. Cut the insults and dial down the rhetoric. No-one has ever been insulted into agreement.

Secondly, listen to what the other side is actually saying. Empathy is about taking in what the other person says, even if we disagree. They too have a right to express their opinion.

Third tip. Look for points of conflict then listen with compassion (not passion but compassion, don’t mix them up) and that means showing a willingness to put the other person on a par with ourselves.

With a bit of critical thinking we can at least identify the difference between fact and opinion. An opinion after all is a consideration or perspective to be weighed up against available evidence and not a weapon to be used on our opponents.

Lastly, and this tip is aimed very personally at myself. Do the above!

A bit about the new (kinda topical!) artworks...

"Abolition +/- Escalation" (above image) is my response to the developing legacy of the last US administration led by Donald Trump and culminating in the shocking invasion of the Capitol building and it’s consequences. The central image of the globe with its nails, looking very virus-like, is indicative of a denial of responsibility, a denial of reality and the results of such. The three lower panels contain (left) an image of the DNA double helix, (centre) armed crowds outside the US Capitol and (right) an illustration I made using matches of the effects of social distancing during the pandemic, like a fire break. 

"The Golden Age of Malfunction" (above image) is a further comment on what I was just writing about. The central circular image represents the division between old knowledge (the left-hand side) and the new reality of the current or post pandemic world (the right-hand side). At one extremity is a hand with a dove and holding an olive branch while the other hand at the other side is holding an incendiary weapon. Hope in an increasingly polarised world.

"Good Guy/Bad Guy *delete as appropriate" (above image). It's back in the news here in the UK although it never really went away. So here's the updated and finished version of this work. The big debate is wether to get rid of Colonialist statues, street names and the likes, or retain them for use in further understanding the issues involved. Either way we absolutely need to have a way of educating ourselves and our children in facing up to our responsibilities and making sure they don't just repeat our mistakes. Those who forget history are bound to live through it again.  History is not there for us to enjoy the nice bits and deny the nasty stuff. It's there for us to learn from and to better ourselves.

Still as Statues (or good guy? bad guy?)

We are lucky here in the British Isles. 

We take so much for granted. We have been born in a wealthy country.

But as comedian Frankie Boyle succinctly pointed out, we have not been born in a wealthy country, we have been born in a getaway car and the victims have been chasing us ever since.

Our conscience is finally catching up with the consequences of our colonialist history.

In facing up to it and trying to make amends, we will have to make decisions about retaining or removing our colonialist statues and street names among other things.

Some of us may not be too happy if a decision goes against what we had hoped for. Therefore we need to be prepared to work together to continue educating both ourselves and our children about racism regardless.

If we remove the statues for example, what would be the best way to prevent our children and our youth from forgetting our history and just repeating the same old mistakes later in life like we did?

If we retain them, can we erect statues of our black and ethnic leaders and activists right alongside those of Colston, Dundas, Robert E. Lee, Rhodes and the likes? Would this counteract the racist attitudes that many of those problematic historic statues represent; one root of the problem being glorification of that history, not recognition/denial of it?

Remember. This is our history and we forget it at our peril.

What I have seen in the Middle East is that it’s often within the younger generation that fundamentalism and racism on both sides is resurfacing. A friend of mine who has been living and working in Croatia since before the start of the 1990s Balkans war and the breakup of the former Yugoslavia has said much the same thing. It is among "those who are too young to remember what happened” that intolerance is taking hold.

I have a colleague whose teenage daughter had recently started an online petition to ensure racism awareness is taught in schools. She said that in all her high school years she had not one single lesson or lecture on racism. The UK media (BBC) reports that racism is still “alive and kicking” in our primary (junior) and secondary (high) schools.

“History is here for us to remember our faults and learn by them. We [historians] are not here to erase the nasty history and leave the good stuff to remember.” (Lenny Low, historian). It’s when we remember our history, no matter how painful it may be that we, and our children understand and learn from past mistakes.

The wheels are coming off our getaway car. Let’s make a good job of crashing it productively, with respect and understanding, a bit of dignity and with a smile.

New Work launched for Summer 2020.

Still as Statues - mixed media collage 37x30cm

Citizens of Peace - mixed media collage 36x30cm

Good Guy? Bad Guy? - digital composition 36x30cm

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