SHORT ESSAY - This Is What I Know About Art

In This Is What I Know About Art, by Kimberly Drew, the main focus of the book is on the journey Drew has with art and activism. Her journey first starts off with a memory from her childhood, which showcases her relationship with art. Rather than being an artist she instead appreciates the art, artist, and the history. Kimberly Drew got her foot into the art world when she applied to the Studio Museum because of its paid internship.”It’s absurd to think about how a $1,600 stipend changed the course of my life,” as Drew puts it. This internship then led to her doing big things such as starting a blog dedicated to the art and artists she encountered at the Studio Museum to bring more attention to underrepresented and under-appreciated Black and other people of color artists. This blog and her instagram account soon became a form of activism for Kimberly Drew. Engaging and bringing awareness to an issue in the art community. That’s still quite an issue. Her journey is what most of us are probably experiencing now in class. The themes and issues we have been discussing so far closely relate to what Kimberly Drew didn’t experience in her modern and contemporary art class. While she may not have gotten to learn about African American, Latin American, Native American, or even Asian artists, there is at least more attention and discussion on them today.

This all leads to the topic of activism. While some may think “I’m not really an activist,” there’s really no special requirement to be one. Authors, historians and curators can also be activists. As stated in the Art of Activism,”Yet, in a sense, we all do forms of activism everyday: organizing a group of people to go to a movie or picking a restaurant; lobbying parents for extra screen time or your boss for a raise; talking a friend out of a bad relationship. All being an activist really entails is having an idea of what needs to be changed and doing something about it.” The main component being doing something about it. While many can point out what needs to be changed it’s a lot more difficult doing something about it. In Kimberly Drew’s case she was born to take action. It doesn’t seem like she’s afraid to speak her mind, especially in a world that doesn’t take too kindly to speaking one's opinion.

There were a few moments in her book that felt particularly pivotal and meaningful to me. One of these moments was when Drew talked about her feeling like an imposter.”We talk about “imposter syndrome,” or the feeling that you don’t belong somewhere. Then and now, I dismiss feelings of imposter syndrome. How can there be one diagnosis for an anxiety that feels so tailored to who you are as a person?” It’s such an important line in the world we live in today. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t feel like I belong somewhere, even if I earned the right to be there, it may not be enough to calm the anxiety. Another quote from her writing that stuck out to me was,“The optimism came to my defense whenever I spotted one of the museum’s many flaws. Optimism kept me afloat as I set out to fix them.” While reading the book you can really sense how much Kimberly Drew grew over the years. Not only in her career but also as an activist. She doesn't let her emotions get the best of her, but uses them as a weapon to better fight injustices.

What makes Kimberly Drew’s book so captivating is due to her journey being one anyone can relate to. Especially with it taking place during the age of the internet. Which makes it easy for artists who also had their start on the internet to see themselves in her shoes. I used to think “I’m not really much of an activist,” and I still sort of feel this way at times due to imposter syndrome. It just seems like everyone else has so much passion and knowledge about activism and art that it feels scary for me to speak up in conversations. There would be a million thoughts racing through my head about not saying something dumb and embarrassing myself further. But after reading This Is What I Know About Art, it made me remember that everyone has their own individual journey with activism. In my case I feel more confident drawing out fun comics that contain topics of activism. It just feels more genuine than anything else. Of course, I still find myself being scared of putting myself out there. But sometimes you just gave to not think about it and just do it. Even if it leads to embarrassment. I hope to one day overcome this fear entirely and be able to use my work, like other artists I admire, to bring attention to things that need change.

Works Cited

Drew, K. (2020). This is what I know about art. Penguin Workshop. 

Duncombe, S., & Lambert, S. (2021). The art of activism: Your all-purpose guide to making The impossible possible. O/R.