Art for Action

A piece of art that motivates me to act as a part of social change would be the Creation of Adam painting. It is a painting that Michelangelo painted in 1580 and it is part of the Sistine chapel’s ceiling. This painting motivates me because my parents bought a copy of this picture and it has been in my house for years, since I was a little kid and I had always been curious about what the meaning of it was and considering it has been in my house all of my life I see it every day. When I was twelve, I went to Italy with my family and I was lucky enough to see the Sistine chapel in person and it was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen that I will never forget. I’m a strong catholic and Italian and always have been since I was born. The meaning of the creation of Adam is that it illustrates the biblical creation of a famous moment in history to Catholics which is very strong to the Italian culture. The painting is of two men almost touching fingers but not quite touching, the meaning of it is supposed to be that one of the men in the picture is God, who is breathing life into Adam to make him the first man and which later led him to join Eve who started off the human race. This picture relates to social change in a way where people who believe in the catholic religion and even those who don’t practice Christianity believe how the human race came to be in the belief of Christians. Everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve whether they believe it or not and this painting is the start of it. I think the illustration of this picture helps those who aren’t Christian understand what Christians believe in. I feel like this painting motivates me in social change because after seeing it in person one thing I thought about and still think about all the time was how Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel at the age of 25. This motivates me and always has because the Sistine chapel is such a well-known piece of art that has so much history and stories behind it and to think that a young man at 25 painted that is beyond talented. The motivation for social change in this painting for me lies within me making the correlation to what Michelangelo has done in his life to what I have done so far. Not that we should all be like Michelangelo because not everyone is born with a talent like he was, but as a 21-year-old sometimes I get lazy and I don’t make a change or don’t do something useful for society, I think of the Creation of Adam painting. Yes, although it was thousands of years ago, Michelangelo was 4 years older than me when he created a masterpiece that is still a huge part of history thousands of years later. When Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel and the Creation of Adam, he didn’t know it was going to be known by almost the whole world especially thousands of years later in history, he painted it because it was his passion, he was determined and it was simply something he loved to do, and it turned out he was better than amazing at it! I think that social changes come from people who are determined, and those who are passionate about what they’re doing, not someone who is looking for a prize or fame after doing something that will last in history. Religion has always been a momentum to social change, the disagreements for years on end between so many different religions have led to wars and even genocides. The translation of religious texts like the Creation of Adam has empowered people to shape their religious beliefs. I think that my experience with this piece of art and the meaning to it has led to social change because growing up I was only exposed to Christianity but part of seeing the Sistine chapel in person made me realize that there are so many other religions as well that also have such a meaningful history to it as well. I put that inspiration into action by being open to learning about other religions as well, and hearing people of other religions express their beliefs. Especially being a lot more open to understanding that all religions are so different and unique in their own way and religion is definitely a big part of people. I think that seeing the Sistine chapel in person has affected my family as well, when they saw it in person it made them a stronger Christin, they also always respect to hear about other religions but my family became a lot more dedicated to Christianity after seeing the beautiful history behind it.