I’ve gotten a few sideways looks when using the word “artivism”...which is funny to me because it’s not really that strange of a word, is it? I mean words are thrown together to take on new meanings all the time—like, that’s so totally superawesome. Or, don’t be such a jerkface.  

And, artivism is an actual word, so much so that it has its own Wikipedia page. I must admit, though, that when I first uttered the word “artivism,” it was new to me—I thought I made it up, I was a genius! But I soon realized that many (far brighter) people had had the idea before me. Ah, cold, hard reality, you taunt me yet again! There are no original thoughts, right? The point is, the word artivism isn’t all that new, and the concept is even older. Call it creative activism or conscious art or whatever you want, but people have been making art and music in hopes of changing the world for a long time. The Beatles did it, and hey, cavemen probably drew on their walls with saber toothed tiger hide dipped in plant pigment to appease warring tribes or something, who knows.  

Case in point: I just stumbled upon a kickass (hey, there’s another one of those two-word words!) organization last night that uses the phrase “creative activism” when describing itself. I was at an art show in Santa Monica, looking at an amazingly heart wrenching and beautiful exhibit of Dan Eldon’s photojournalism and mixed media collage work. Dan was a young activist and artist who tragically died in 1993 during mob rioting in Mogadishu. He was only 23 years old. After his death, his mother and sister started the Creative Visions 
foundation to “support people, especially the young, who use media, technology and the arts to create awareness of social, environmental or humanitarian issues and effect positive change in local and global communities.” It was a wonderfully inspiring experience to hear Dan’s mother, Kathy Eldon speak about the organization with such passion and exuberance, and it was a good reminder that artivism (as I like to call it, but you can make up your own word if you want) is everywhere.

Art, in fact, at its very core IS activism, even at the most basic level. Let’s say you draw a silly picture. You show it to your mom, it makes her smile, makes her day better, makes her feel good. That’s activism, people! That’s changing the world for the better! Of course, we here at RuckusRoots are hoping to do this on a larger scale. We’re hoping to remind those who’ve forgotten (or perhaps never new) what a powerful tool art is, that the skills to use that tool live within each of us and that it’s our responsibility as conscious beings to put them to use.  

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