Alexander, Nyah (Week 7 Blog)

Learning about how the use of digital art and digital platforms by Chicanx artists helps to reach a wider audience, and continue the goals of informing people about social injustices, cultural education, and building solidarity across communities was an interesting way to see and understand the value of digital art. I also found it interesting that she finds that the digital art age is not causing the decrease in political posters, but instead “digital modalities offer new opportunities to visualize political resistance” (Zapata 131). It is true that as society continues to develop and technology becomes an increasingly integral part of our lives, art forms, especially those that are political and forms of protest, must adapt to the platforms used by most people and that gain the most traction.

I also enjoyed seeing that in their digital art collections, artists also incorporated photographs and scans of physical art mediums, creating what they called “digital art rasquachismo”, combining two art forms we have learned about in this class. I think the idea of maintaining cultural identity by preserving certain special art forms, versus becoming fully digital and leaving all other styles in the past is important. While digital art offers endless possibilities and has the potential to reach many more people, physical art is important because the impact of hand crafting every element of a work and people being able to experience it in person will always be one of the greatest artistic experiences. The digital art movement is also a great way to display support for communities outside of your own, like the example of the Black Lives Matter digital art and graphics that were created to show support for the movement. Digital art has the potential to connect artists and activists that may have otherwise never crossed paths, and it is essential to the survival of art in the digital age.