EDITOR ' S GREETING
A
DESIRE
TO DEVELOP a better picture of sustainability led me to read Jacqueline Novogratz ’ s brilliant Manifesto for a Moral Revolution : Practices to Build a Better World , in which she discusses how her desire to change the world led her to found Acumen , a nonprofit impact-investment fund that supports social entrepreneurs who create jobs and lift the poorest of the poor out of poverty through environmentally sustainable businesses . She describes businesses that sell affordable solar lights and manufacture antimalarial mosquito nets in Sub-Saharan Africa , eye surgery clinics and ambulance services in South Asia , and even a chocolate producer who works with the Arhuaco people in Colombia . With such worthy , pragmatic goals , I was surprised that Novogratz devoted her penultimate chapter to the concept of beauty .
“ To paraphrase Dr . King , there is beauty in the struggle ,” Novogratz writes , and she continues , “ Beauty inspires and motivates . Beauty sustains . The key for each of us is to define what beauty means for us , to think of it not as superfluous or indulgent but as an essential part of what it means to be human .” 1
Not all Indigenous art of the Americas may immediately be held up as beauty . I would love , for example , if an Andean scholar wrote about the grotesque in Nazca ceramics . However , beauty does lie in truth telling , in acknowledging trauma , in healing , and insisting upon remaining Indigenous despite all the external pressures to assimilate into the global mainstream .
I ’ m often glad that the role of Indigenous American art within the art world permits us to be earnest . We can state the truth , even if it is sometimes obvious : “ The Earth is our mother . Water is life . We are here .” We can also unabashedly pursue beauty . I believe this is , in part , due to the widespread Indigenous perspective that artists are responsible for their creations . This is what they
America Meredith ( Cherokee Nation ), ᎠᏙᏚᎯᏐᏗᏱ ᏌᎪᏂᎨ ᎤᎩᏥᏍᎬ , Adoduhisodiyi Sakonige Ugitsisgv ( Remaking Blue Dawn ), 2012 , acrylic on hardboard panel , 40 × 30 in ., collection of the Bardo Arts Center , Western Carolina University , Cullowhee , North Carolina . Image courtesy of the artist .
manifest into the universe . To express prayers and hope for the safety of one ’ s family or community often supersedes a Native artist ’ s concerns about art world expectations .
Sasha Sarago ( Wadjanbarra Yidinji and Jirrbal clans ), founding editor of Ascension Magazine in Australia , says , “ If we indigenize beauty , the meaning is transformed from ‘ aesthetically pleasing ’ to a state of divinity . Beauty now becomes spirit manifested .” 2 She goes on to say , “ You cannot appreciate beauty if you cannot recognize it in yourself . So how do we change our perceptions of beauty ? We have to get real with ourselves and start by asking , ‘ Who am I ? Where do I come from ? The world that I live in — how did it come to be ? And more importantly , Where to from here ?’”
The challenge of self-understanding , self-acceptance , and seeing the beauty from within can be facilitated by art . Art is often more a catalyst for questions than answers , and this dialogue between you and the art can help lead you to beauty within and without . — America Meredith ( Cherokee Nation )
1 . Jacqueline Novogratz ’ s Manifesto for a Moral Revolution : Practices to Build a Better World ( New York : St . Martin ’ s Griffin , 2020 ), 221 . 2 . Sasha Sarago , “ Pretty Hurts : It ’ s time to decolonise beauty ,” TEDxSydney , YouTube video , Dec . 16 , 2020 , 11:12 , web .
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