🇬🇧 The similarity between art and religion

Art and religion have an interesting similarity.

I'm Nycka Nunes, I work as a visual artist and fine art photographer.

A few days ago I saw a post from a person on a social network frustrated with the movie “The Blair Witch Project”. I saw this movie in the theater, and at the time I didn't understand one thing that reading about this person's frustration allowed me to understand. At the time, my repertoire regarding art was limited and so was my self-knowledge. I didn't understand the symbology, intentional or not, behind that film. I understood when I read that post. I also didn't understand the symbology behind many other films. Cinema for me, for a long time, was something to pass the time, not to reflect on life or seek self-knowledge.

Music was also purely distracting, until I started listening to songs with lyrics that made me think. Later, I also started to read more about some musicians I liked, read biographies of artists, see interviews, follow the profiles of artists on social networks, and this showed other nuances of their work.

I will limit myself to the examples of music and cinema because they are art forms that everyone has access to, but the same reasoning applies to other art forms.

People also relate similarly to religion. Many can spend their whole lives listening to music to distract themselves, and going to religious activities out of habit, without making any correlation between what is transmitted during a religious ceremony and their lives. Others, like me, at some point realise that art has something to say to them, and so does religion.

Religion is a personal development tool. Art also has its role in personal development. But the role of both is only fulfilled when we allow ourselves to grow, to see the world with a different lens than the one we received from our family and the people we grew up with.

Think about it.

Nycka Nunes