diVERSES reKINDLED: In Conversation With Dr. Mark Lomax II

If I wanted to have hundreds of people see my art today, I could.

It wasn't always true. It wasn't always as easy as today.

For all of the attacks the tool receives, social media represents one of the greatest tools of impact artists have had. Though connection is touted as social media's supposed strength, the reality is that the greatest strength is personal.

Social media allows me to speak at length on topics that interest me. Not coincidentally, the more I speak on my interests, the better I become at my interests.

I'm a better teacher because of the days I've spent talking about teaching on videos, in podcasts, across posts, and during interviews; the same is true for poetry.

In speaking with Dr. Mark Lomax II about the need to create platforms, we arrive at similar conclusions about art itself.

Art requires dedicated focus on a singular concept. Artists then better understand what they focus on.

Even if no one sees my painting, listens to my track, or reads my post, I have grown in my comprehension of the subject.

Posting, watercoloring, poeting: regardless the form of creation, there often is concern about who we reach, and whether they will care.

However, the purpose of art is not reach but transformation—yes, the transformation of the person who receives what we create. And yes, the artist is the first receiver.

In art, transformation comes from an understanding of the world that previously did not exist, why a poem is typically not finished until it has surprised the poet.

If the poet, the musician, the photographer can be surprised, then so can the reader, the listener, the viewer. The importance of artists having a platform—social media possibly, but ultimately their own—is to ensure their transformation, their new understanding of the world, has the ability to better transform the lives of others without obstacles.

Full conversation between poet Geoff Anderson and musician Dr. Mark Lomax II: https://youtu.be/qISFHnLY56g