156. Art Is Political: Creativity, Democracy, and the Courage to Speak

In this powerful and deeply personal episode of The Modern Creative Woman, Dr. Amy Backos explores the inseparable relationship between art and politics, and why creativity is not a luxury—but a necessity for a healthy society.

From political cartoons and protest imagery to community art and everyday creative expression, art has always been a catalyst for social change, empathy, and revolution. Amy reflects on the alarming decline of arts education in schools, the growing body of research connecting art to physical and mental health, and the urgent need to reclaim creativity as an essential human tool for understanding ourselves and engaging with the world around us.

This episode also explores:

• Why arts education matters for democracy and critical thinking
• The role of creativity in empathy, civic engagement, and problem solving
• How images and symbols communicate powerful truths
• The importance of having imperfect but meaningful conversations about civil rights and democracy
• The Japanese Zen art practice of the Enso and its connection to mindfulness and imperfection
• How perfectionism can silence creativity and become a barrier to change
• The connection between inner peace, artistic practice, and collective healing
• Updates and inspiration from The Art Therapy Toolkit

Amy also shares a simple and meaningful creative invitation: creating your own Enso circle as a practice of presence, self-expression, and letting go of perfectionism.

Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, this episode is a reminder that creativity belongs to everyone—and that engaging with art can become a powerful act of healing, connection, and participation in the world around us.

In This Episode

• The devaluing of arts education and why it matters
• Art as communication, protest, and transformation
• Political cartoons, symbolism, and storytelling through images
• Creativity as a tool for health and resilience
• The Enso circle and the beauty of imperfection
• Why peaceful inner environments matter for collective change
• How small conversations create meaningful social impact

Mentioned in This Episode

• The Japanese tradition of Enso art
• Do Better by Rachel Ricketts
• The Art Therapy Toolkit by Amy Backos (in press)

Creative Reflection Prompt

Where do art and social change intersect in your own life? What conversations, emotions, or hopes are asking to be expressed creatively right now?

Transcript

Art and politics go together like peanut butter and jelly. They are the perfect match. And if we fail to underestimate the power of the arts in changing society or leaving this really powerful tool on the table unused, art has been a tool for change, for social justice, and for revolution. We are in a space and time where we need art more than ever, and the science is strong. It's not only used for communication and self-understanding, it is being prescribed for our physical and mental health. And it's an exciting time in the research for understanding what's happening with the arts. Today we are talking about the Japanese tradition of the Enso art. Of course, we're talking a little bit about politics, and I'll give you an update on what's happening with the Art Therapy toolkit. Welcome in to the modern creative woman. I'm so glad you're here for today's podcast episode. I'm here to give you the art and science of creativity, and you get the opportunity to be inspired and take what you learn and apply it to your everyday life and your creativity. So let's get into this. Let's get this started. Art is essential for a well-rounded education and for an educated population. Knowing how to use the arts for vitality and health, inspiration and knowledge gives us tools that we can use for our entire lifetime. However, there has been in my lifetime an incredible devaluing of arts education, and in countries around the world we are observing devastating patterns of children not receiving arts education. Without evidence. Schools have been cutting arts in favor of Stem, and fortunately I've been seeing that replaced with steam. So the arts are added back into that as part of essential, vital educational experiences. In the UK, it's just about 1% spent on children in arts education. I looked up what it is in the state of California, it's between 2 and 5%. This just depending on what the budget looks like. It's not very much, and it's estimated that there are about 5000 schools in the United States without any arts education opportunities at all. And that's a lot of kids. About 2 million students aren't getting any exposure to the arts, and what they're losing in that experience is a practical tool that they can use to understand themselves and all of the other subjects that they are learning. Creativity informs all of our work in every aspect of what we do, and learning how to strategically utilize the arts, observing arts and participating in arts improves our lives and improves our communities in immeasurable ways. Science has been doing a great job the last ten years or so. Looking at the health benefits of art, and I've talked about that in the last few episodes. We live longer, we stay healthier longer. We reduce anxiety and depression just by participating in the arts. And if we could all have that experience, there would be a whole host of benefits available for us. You might be wondering how all of this relates to politics. Well, art has been used to promote change since the beginning. An art is a critique in a newspaper cartoon, and I remember reading those cartoons when I was just a kid. My dad would always read the newspaper to me, and I always wanted, of course, the comics at the end, but I wanted to look at the political cartoons as well. I had no idea what they were about, but I understood that they were telling a story and there was something so compelling about that. So they were showing some facts in some kind of way with the metaphors of the art. Ones I can remember in particular had the Statue of Liberty or the figure of Uncle Sam. The symbols used a lot at the time for representing democracy and freedoms, and they would be used in different ways to show what was happening in the news around democracy and freedoms and those really stuck in my head. There's one picture could document something that was happening using symbols and metaphors and art. It could also provide an editorial, like a comment on what was happening, or the observation of what was happening in the news could be translated really quickly and easily into a visual image. Growing up. There was also those Kodak commercials that said a picture is worth a thousand words, and I thought that was absolutely true. I remember talking about that subject with my parents. How could it be a thousand words? And how do they know it's a thousand words? But certainly it's more than a thousand words. The value of an image to tell a story. Art has been vitally important in changing the tides of war. Photos of destruction have offered compelling evidence to end wars. I do not claim to have the answers to how to repair democracy in the United States. I do, however, have art about it. I have personal feelings that I can show in my artwork. I have fears that I can put down on a piece of paper and manage in a different way. One thing that we can all do is put our feelings and our concerns on paper. And another thing that we can all do is talk about what's happening, especially around the erosion of civil rights and voting rights. I'm talking specifically about African Americans becoming disenfranchised in the vote and the dismantling of civil rights court cases, and certain aspects of them that are making it quite a backslide in terms of protecting everyone's right to vote in the United States. Now, I don't know all the details. I'm not a lawyer. However, I do know that it's deeply upsetting, and we need to talk about it. And if I can let go of the idea of wanting to talk about it in a perfect way, then I'm free to be able to talk about it with you. And what I want all of us to do is to share in our scope of influence, our friends, our family, and we need to have conversations about this. It doesn't mean that we're going to solve them in this conversation with our neighbor. What it does mean, though, is that the information and the concern spreads. We have a lot of possibility to share an idea, and one idea begets another, and little change creates big change. And just speaking up can be challenging or scary or threatening. And it still really matters that we're able to just have conversations. And I'm not saying you have to go have a conversation with someone who's at the opposite end of, um, your political spectrum or your you don't have to go to another state and have a conversation with someone. They're just talking about engaging with people, you know, and just starting there. It matters that we all participate. All of this is wrapped together for me, the the politics, the art education and our ability to use art in a daily or at least weekly basis, that when we're exposed to art as children or as adults, it gives us creativity, empathy, insight, and a way to view the world differently from what our thinking brains perceive it to be. All of this allows us to be more educated and more engaged as citizens. Engaging in the arts or helping your kids engage with the arts. Increases our investment in community and exposure to the arts for children. If you're a parent is having a look at sidewalk art, chalk on the sidewalk, graffiti art, stopping to see the break dancers on the corner, or watching a parade and hearing a band, it doesn't mean that they have to get signed up, master an instrument, become an expert in something. Exposure to the arts has a huge impact in that we see what's possible. We're moved by the sound of the band, or we experience pleasure and curiosity when looking at art, so the more we can make that possible for kids in school, the better off all of us are. And we're better off because the arts help us think. And creative thinking is how we solve problems, and it's how we make change. It's how we are engaged with one another. I want to share a piece of art that I think can really inspire you and help you, and it's the end. So and it's a tradition in Japan. It's a hand-drawn circle, and you make the circle in 1 or 2 brushstrokes. So you would want to get paint or oil pastels. And the Enso represents Zen mindfulness. It stands for enlightenment. And this part is really great. The beauty of imperfection. So the Enso is representing the moment that's happening right now. It's also reflective of either the void, the space in the middle, or the fullness that Enso can be an open circle or a closed circle. And. I almost always do. Mine is an open circle where the ends don't touch because I love that idea of imperfection. My anti-racism group is reading a book called Do Better by Rachel Ricketts. It's a great book. I just got started so I can tell you more about it as I get to reading. But she describes perfectionism as an agent of oppression, and I thought, that's exactly right. It stops us from trying. It's limits us from even attempting artwork if we're worried it won't be perfect. And trust me, you have nothing to worry about. Nothing is ever perfect. No art, no conversation, no venturing into, you know, talking about difficult things with people is ever perfect. So fear not. You'll never reach it. You don't have to be afraid of it. The Enso is a great opportunity to practice imperfection and get comfortable with it. Art is political. Politics is also deeply personal. It impacts all of us and our ability to engage creatively in conversations, our willingness to be imperfect, it deeply matters. And whether you're new to these kinds of conversations or you've been doing this for decades and decades, everybody has a meaningful conversation to have. You have the ability to have these kinds of conversations, to speak up for democracy, and to speak up for the rights of all people. Let the art guide you for your health, your personal peace on the inside, your creative expression on the outside. I want to leave you with a last advantage of art that I've been thinking a lot about, and that is related to peace. Art creates a peaceful inner environment. And I'm not saying making art is always happy or creates joy. What I am saying is that making art gives us a feeling of meaning and purpose, of empathy, of intention. And when we're able to experience that, we do have a sense of more peacefulness on the inside. Sometimes it's looking more like satisfaction. Sometimes it's looking more like purpose to take action, sometimes it's quieter. Whatever that feeling of peacefulness that you cultivate making art, that's the beginning step to peace in the world. We all know that peace in the family starts inside each person, and peaceful parents create a peaceful home, and a peaceful home starts to create a peaceful neighborhood. And it spreads. It really does. We know the power of happiness to spread three degrees, and we know the power of having inner peace and bringing peace to each environment that we're in. It's not very often that we get to participate in large change or cause large change. As an individual, it's a collective movement that makes things happen. And your contribution to peace within your own home, within yourself, is contributing. Education is always a contribution. So if you're learning new things, you're contributing as well. And now it's time to have challenging conversations and really advocate for people who are losing access to their democratic rights. I want to thank you so much for being here today, and I would love to hear how you see art and politics related in your own experience, what one has done for the other in your life. I appreciate you being here. I'm getting so excited about art and health and art and wellness in the everyday experience of art to the luxury experience of art. Whether you're making it all by yourself or you're working with an art therapist, your experience of participating in art is important. It gives you vitality, and the things that are most exciting to me. Have lately been reading the research and in working on my book, the Art Therapy Toolkit. What other art therapists have contributed in terms of being really creative? And the contributions range from poetry to printmaking to AI to digital art, and even things you can do on your phone while you're sitting in a waiting room somewhere. It is available for you all the time. All you have to do is tap into it to feel better. Have a wonderful rest of your day and I look forward to speaking with you in the next episode of the Modern Creative Woman podcast.