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What Flower
Are You?
Well, it's Super Tuesday Eve. You survived (I'm assuming) the corridor of mythology surrounding Pilgrims, Christmas, and any other myth-based celebration you were enveloped in. You then launched right into an even larger festival of spun tales called the United States Presidential Campaign. Take a deep breath. It isn't over yet. Tomorrow some of us will help to thin the candidates out. I never know whether to laugh or cry at election time.
Modern politicians have long been adept at creating a public image designed to sway just the right people. What I never thought about was the fact that politicians have been aided by artists to accomplish this feat.
In the time of Alexander the Great, in ancient Macedonia, the political portrait was born. Of course in those times mass media was a little different. There were no cameras or posters and no internet. No, politicians relied on artists to create images of them that would elicit emotion from their constituents and there is evidence that shrewd manipulation of appearances took place to appeal to the desired party.
Alexander the Great's likeness was carved into sculptures that were distributed around the empire. By looking at these sculptures one would be taken by the overall larger than life appearance of this warrior, but the artists also "photoshopped" his look, giving him an air of experience and conservatism - two qualities that people later learned he didn't have.
The spinning of tales - aided by artists. We may no longer distribute statues of the candidates along the campaign trail, but iconic image making is alive and well. Now, shield your eyes and plug your ears. Get out there and VOTE!
If you'd like to learn more about how art has played a role in creating this crazy world of ours, I highly recommend the BBC series, "How Art Made the World"
(The above illustration is Hyacinth Faery, faery of joy and political honesty in advertising.)
