Yes and no. I never liked it at school because I found it depressing to learn about all the wars and genocides, and my other lessons didn't make up for that. At the same time we were learning about Nazis in history, we were doing about death row in RS.
I used to imagine a fluttering butterfly whenever I was stuck in history, it served as a quick reminder to myself that there is still some fleeting beauty in this world. Sometimes I needed that.
After I left school, I actually discovered historical events that I am interested in researching. I've watched documentaries on Stonewall, and I like to learn about different classes and cultures. But at school, I feel like if it all these sad events hadn't been dumped on us all at once, and instead they slowly worked up to it, then maybe I would've enjoyed it more.
Sometimes I saw kids laughing at horrible events, like Hiroshima, seemed weird at the time, but I guess that was just their way of coping with all the unpleasant things we were learning about. That's what dark humour relies on.
I realise why all these events were important to learn about, but they were sometimes a bit much to take in at the time.
Most people in art class drew pictures about self-harm, negative body image, and things of that ilk. I drew butterflies at the beach. There tends to be this widespread idea that happiness is inherently shallow, and that only
sadness can be meaningful, which I think is utterly pretentious and downright wrong. Sometimes the simplest of things can be beautiful, especially when used to contrast and complement more complex themes.
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Support human artists! Do not let the craft die.
25. Near the spectrum but not on it.