Art Can Be A Bridge

“This is the power of art: The power to transcend our own self-interest, our solipsistic zoom-lens on life, and relate to the world and each other with more integrity, more curiosity, more wholeheartedness.” -Maria Popova

“Being an artist means to be continually asking, “How can it be better?” whatever it is. It may be your art, and it may be your life…Each of us has our own way of seeing this world. And this can lead to feelings of isolation. Art has an ability to connect us beyond the limitations of language. Through this, we get to face our inner world outward, remove the boundaries of separation, and participate in the great remembering of what we came into this life knowing: There is no separation. We are one.” -Rick Rubin

“Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope…The transformative power of art is in this sharing. Without connection or collective engagement, what we hear is simply a caged song of sorrow and despair; we find no liberation in it. It’s the sharing of art that whispers, ‘You’re not alone.” -Brene Brown

Perhaps the answer to all our division and the cure for our epidemic of loneliness is to just go make some art together.

Check out this inspiring short documentary, “Beyond The Bridge” made by my friend Kim Z. It’s about doing just that and how it transformed a community.