What should be the role of the artist and his identity in society?

Art and Culture

What should be the role of the artist and his identity in society?

April 21, 2024

Identity is an essential part in shaping the artist’s conscience, awareness, thought, and art, says Egyptian artist Fadwa Attia Mohamed

[Fadwa Attia Mohamed, born on December 22, 1976, in Cairo, Egypt, has specialization in Photography, Oil Painting and Decorative Theater. She did bachelors from the Faculty of Applied Arts, Major- Décor in 2000. She is member of the Association of Applied Arts Designers and the Cairo Atelier for artists and writers. She is Head of the Department of Fine Arts Palace of Child Culture of the Ministry of Culture. Several exhibitions of her work have been held nationally and internationally. She has published articles of the Cultural surrounding in the Ministry of Culture and ready to issue a collection of short stories. She is winner of dozens of awards and certificates.]

Fadwa Attia speaks about the role of the artist and his identity in society through the various arts: theater, cinema, television, fine art, and others.

What is the current role of the artist in his society? Does he need to consciously understand how to use his artistic and cultural identity?

Yes, he needs it. Identity is an essential part in shaping the artist’s conscience, awareness, thought, and art. This is not easy. On the contrary, it requires an educated artist who has a real awareness of the meaning of intellectual, cultural, artistic, and other identity.

So we need that awareness of identity in order to make it an integrated role in society, in addition to the presence of other elements with it: originality, modernity, etc., which makes us able to understand its importance to the true, honest creator, even if this creator is an amateur or an obscure person. This makes us contemplate, and contemplation stabilizes the sense of identity. All of them are key elements for building a true identity with a clear concept for everyone and society, and make the artist of real value in his art. This brings us to the established fact that art without identity is alien to us, or was it our choice to be influenced by what was around us?

Perhaps for reasons I mentioned previously, there is something new every day, rapid development every second, faster technology, continuous technological development, globalization and artificial intelligence. This makes us race against time, so we are to review what we receive in terms of cultures and cultural, intellectual and technological development, especially at the present time, which are all endless challenges.

Is there enough time for us now to review the various arts we offer in theatre, cinema, visual art, singing, religious chanting, and television drama?

I give one answer: I don’t think so. Times have changed, standards and concepts have changed, and everything has changed. Even the level of our daily dialogue has become rapid. We really need to review it.

Within ourselves, different arts came to us from abroad, and we began to want art and receive it quickly. You see, for example, that different arts can be presented on different platforms on the Internet, whatever the series, films, etc. The virtual world has appeared and changed the features of our lives. For example, an episode on Facebook presents… One of them was an artist in five minutes, and now we have what is known as the condensed, useful center in episodes lasting from five to ten minutes. Some of them present their art without providing an identity, for the sake of fame or money.

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There has become a real crisis, as we do not understand what is presented to us and to future generations.

If change is required, but with real awareness and understanding, it starts with the artist in turn, who is the one who raises awareness of society through art, as art is a message. The recipient of all types of arts loves to see what he understands and discuss its issues, but in a useful summary, because we have become in the age of speed, it is necessary to change while keeping pace with what is new in this era, and this makes us accept everything new with open arms. Therefore, we will present different solutions from refining talents, building ideas in light of the era of globalization, and developing human development.