Art is Political. And Not All Art is Porn
By: Mia Hope Beauchamp
By: Mia Hope Beauchamp
“Artists are at the front line of every cultural revolution. If they made you uncomfortable,
they did their job. Art is political. Art is political. Art is political. It always has been, always
will be, and if you don't get that, then I imagine a visit to the museum with you would be
boring as hell.” ~Mistress Desiree
People look at architecture as just building houses or office spaces. When I look at architecture, I see all the possibilities; not just what you can do with a space on the ground, but the space as a whole. With my background in art, I’m trained to see not only the positive but also the negative space. This leads to my ability to marry artists such as Monet or Degas with architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Norman Foster. My goal is not to be the next Frank Lloyd Wright or Degas, but to be somewhere in between. I don’t want to be famous for my work, but I want my work to leave an imprint in people’s minds.
My pursuit of architecture is primarily selfish. I would like to have a stable income and a self-sufficient business that I can own one day. Being disabled, there are not many jobs out there that accept a disabled person with a service dog. I hope not only to have a job in interior architecture but also to create jobs for others, maybe even other disabled people, through my own business. But baby steps first.
When exploring art, lines sometimes get crossed between what is artistic, what iserotic, and what is politically correct. My objective is to normalize the human body and what a
person can do with it by exploring light in photography and how it can completely
change the overall image.
Years ago, when first starting photography, I experimented with shibari (rope bondage)
and black lighting. Finding the photos visually stunning, I decided to continue my exploration
into different styles of lighting and what they could do for the composition of the photos. By
introducing projected images, cycling colored lights, and black light to my images, my goal was
to change how viewers viewed the subject matter.
Regarding inspiration, my art borrows many inspirational ideas from Robert Mapplethorpe, his Black Book photography, and other shots from Mr. Mapplethorpe. I, otherwise, tried to come up with ideas and shoots that I, as a person, would like to see. I wanted to make photos that would make a person look at something that was erotic and not think, “That’s pornography!” but, “That’s lovely.”, “That’s cool looking!” or "ME NEXT!"