How has art, in various forms, consoled your spirit, inspired you, or provided new insights during challenging times? When did you look at a piece of art, or read something, or listen to a song and feel something move deep inside your spirit? I dare say we all experienced this at least once in our life so far if not many times. It happened to me several times before, and most recently in an unexpected time.
One day recently I randomly saw a social media post that a good friend and fellow military veteran I hadn’t seen in a long time was in town. I immediately responded asking if he’d like to meet for coffee. He responded that he was headed to the National Portrait Gallery, and we decided to meet there for lunch since it was close by my office. After lunch, I randomly decided to quickly go through another section of the museum before heading back to work. There, serendipitously. I encountered the words “art consoles the spirit” as part of a quote from American artist Hisako Hibi. Her artwork, along with the art of other American women artists of Japanese ancestry, Mika Hayakawa and Miné Okubo, are currently on display in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. The exhibit presents a detailed look at the art careers of these American women of Japanese descent from before, during, and after the mass displacement and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II in response to presidential Executive Order 9066. Through their art you can see the experiences, perspectives, and resilience during adverse times. These artists engaged with their art to communicate and also tap into their inner resilience for the unique challenges and hardships they, their families, their communities, and the country faced.
While I stood in front of Hisako Hibi’s painting Eternal Seasons (the main photo in this article), I viewed the art in context of our current difficult and challenging times in our own country, and how these challenges are impacting me, my family and friends, our communities, and our country emotionally, psychologically, and physiologically in day-to-day life. Without going into the details of what I saw in Hibi’s painting, Eternal Seasons, suffice to say, it gave me hope and emboldened my resilience during these challenging times. Understanding that the seasons are eternal and constantly moving and changing, and this season too shall pass, and life goes on, as the seasons of the difficulties and lives of the artists in the exhibit. Thinking of how these women embraced their art during difficult times, I’m reminded of memories from my childhood and when I first encountered art and an artist.
Growing up in rural Georgia, the first artist I met was the mother of my close friend Russell. One day, Russell and I came back into their humble trailer home from our adventures in the forests near home to find his mama busy at her easel with a new painting. She was painting a replica of Leonardo di Vinci’s Mona Lisa. I don’t recall if I had ever heard of the Mona Lisa before she explained to me what she was painting. It would be years later before I learned about the real Mona Lisa painting and dozens more years before I saw the original painting in person myself in the Louvre Museum in Paris France. While most would probably say that my friend’s mama’s painting of the Mona Lisa was an amateur artist’s lower quality replica, for me, seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time through the eyes and paintbrush of my friend’s mama, it was a deeply moving piece of art depicting her personal life struggles as a single mother with three kids, one an adult daughter that traveled all over the country, causing her mama much worry. The hardships my friend’s mama and their family faced appeared in the face of her Mona Lisa. At the same time, I could see the resilience, determination, and love of life, in spite of life’s hardships, in the face of her Mona Lisa.
My friend’s mama painted many other subjects that year, including other human subjects and nature scenes. Looking back now, I see how she used her art to not only communicate her life journey, but also her struggles, resilience, challenges, grief, worry, and happiness. And as a young viewer of her art, I in turn saw messages that were relevant for me as a young kid, and even now years later. Her art consoled her spirit as it did mine then and continues to console my spirit today.
Coming back to the present, as Hibi and her fellow artists found resilience and a communication outlet for challenges and life during those previous dark times, we all may find similar resilience and communication outlets through art in our current times. I encourage each of you to reflect on how art consoled your spirit in the past as well as consoles your spirit, provides inspiration, guidance, and motivation on your current life journey. In closing, I’m reminded of the following quote from author Toni Morrison.
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work…We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
- Toni Morrison, “No Place for Self-Pity, No Room for Fear,” The Nation, March 23, 2025.
May each of you reflect on your stories and current experiences with art you create and/or experience from other artists and find consolation for your spirit and healing for our families, friends, communities, nation, and world. As always, Your Story Matters.
