The thing I love about facts is that they are true whether you believe in them or not. Whether they hurt your feelings, enrage you, or make you question who you are… facts are true and there is no getting around that. There is a lot of beauty in something being completely true and unchangeable through time, space, and opinion. As an emotional and sensitive person (hello, I’m an artist), I absolutely love facts because, to me, they feel like the opposite to art.
Neil Degrasse Tyson blessed us all with this quote, “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”
As an artist, I am constantly “finding my voice”. One thing that completely changed my life, and allowed my to find the voice I have today, was when I realized I could combine art and science, facts and feelings. So long were the days where I believed that my art was only as good as the emotions behind it. Nope, my art is stronger and more powerful when I combine facts and truth, with art and creative visual interpretation. When I combine my sensitivity with facts, it causes people to feel a lot of feelings.
We all have a lot of feelings and we all believe in things. Sometimes these things can be changed. We can grow and morph and get new insights and perspectives. Even the most angry can become soft and the most polarizing people can equalize. I believe in these things, with my feelings. I believe them because I have seen it in myself. I have grown and changed, morphed and blossomed.
This is why I know facts cannot simply change people. You need feelings. Tapping into the emotions behind people’s beliefs opens their eyes to facts. Without the feelings, facts cannot change the world. I love this. These ideas are what I have based my work upon. Sure, maybe my art has hurt feelings, riled people up, or caused debate on if an artist can make art about science (they can). I don’t mind when people don’t like what I do. You don’t have to like it. I don’t like things too. However, the facts don’t change. They are true whether you like them or not.
This is why I combine facts and feelings. I know that I changed from other people’s combinations of art and science, facts and feelings. Sure, sometimes my feelings also got hurt by some facts. But, these things caused me to grow into who I am today, which I know will be different from who I am in 10 years. I just love that there are inarguable truths in this world and maybe they hurt feelings, or you don’t agree with them, but they aren’t going to change.
But you can.
That fact is, you can change the world.
If you feel like it.
How do I tell if something is a fact? Read more HERE.