Hello to you too

When I look at art, besides when I go to museums, the art that I usually focus on is from any period besides the current. Maybe that’s partly due to the fact that, while when looking back things are conveniently classified — we know what the eras and who the masters where — in the present these things are yet to be determined, and so in this sense it is much harder to appreciate current art, as it likely always has been. An art piece’s merit does not solely (or even marginally in some cases) come from the skill which was required to create it, but rather there are many other aspects which factor in, such as the context, the subject matter, the conceptual significance, how it responds to other pieces of art, etc. Art in this way is a conversation, and, as it has always been, this conversation in the present has yet to be concluded, and therefore its key points are much harder to determine. To summarize: Current art is much harder to appreciate, for many reasons.
Will all this in mind, the session was extremely insightful into the world of current art. My mind was genuinely expanded; I never was aware of what sort of practical functions artworks could have, much less how they could affect our environment. Furthermore, where I have never been too interested in the categorizations of art through by identity groups, the one in this case being women, I thought ecofeminism proved to be a very valuable and effective classification, and therefore my mind has been changed on this idea. Finally, the session provoked my thought on the topic of women throughout art history and where they are hidden, and so I’m definitely going to look into that.