M. Suzanne Terry

“This week I challenge you to write about something you really don’t care about.”

When I got this prompt, I thought, “Oh, that’s easy. I do that all the time. Welcome to SEO writing.” But I hit a wall and weeks passed and nothing. Turns out, if I’m going to write about something I don’t initially care about, I at least want to get paid for it. Also, I like knowing things, so by the time I’ve read enough to write an article about it, I find at least one aspect of it fascinating.

For all of my life, I’ve wanted to care more about art. I have lived with art history majors and artists. As their friend, I care about what is important to them, because that’s how friendship works. So I do care about art…in general. I am glad there is art in the world. I believe that the arts in general and visual art in particular are vital to our well-being as a human race.

But as soon as I got this prompt – particularly the aspect of the prompt that said to consider something “that you really just fall asleep listening to people talk” – art was the first thing that came to mind. I will go to a museum with someone (especially if it’s a special event where wine is served), but I will not be the one to suggest it. I will support (i.e., purchase and/or encourage others to purchase) art from friends and local artists, but have a low threshold for lengthy, rambling conversations about the more technical aspects of producing the drawing, painting, or sculpture.

Where art grabs my attention is in the story.

The piece that springs to mind is Ecce Homo by Antonio Ciseri. In this painting (the title translates as “Behold the Man”), we see Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowd. Jesus has been beaten. The most striking character is Pilate’s wife. She’s the only one looking away, and the look on her face reminds us that she warned Pilate not to mess with Jesus – that she’d had a terrible dream about what might befall him if he did. And now her husband has not only neglected to heed her advice but is presenting Jesus for more torture. I didn’t respond to the painting at first glance, but when I learned the story behind it, my reaction was visceral.

When people tell me the story behind a piece or where their minds or souls were when they were creating it, I am interested. Therein lies its beauty to me.