Your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel.
August WilsonRead
What comes forth from you as an artist cannot be controlled. But you have responsibilities as a global citizen. Your history dictates your duty. And by writing about black people, you are not limiting yourself. The experiences of African-Americans are as wide open as God's closet.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Artistic expression is deeply influenced by one's identity and history, and artists have a duty to address broader societal issues.
August Wilson emphasizes that the creative expression of an artist is a natural, uncontrollable process shaped by their personal history and responsibility within the global community. He argues that writing about the experiences of African-Americans offers limitless possibilities, challenging the notion that such themes constrain an artist's work; rather, they enrich and expand the narrative landscape, as vast as the divine imagination itself.
Themes
ArtResponsibilityIdentityExpressionAfrican-AmericanHistory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote is perfect for an art exhibition focused on social justice themes.
More from August Wilson
All quotes →I think the blues is the best literature that we as blacks have created since we've been here. I call it our 'sacred book.' What I've attempted to do is to mine that field, to mine those cultural ideas and attitudes and give them to my characters.
August WilsonRead
All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other.
August WilsonRead
I do - very specifically, I remember Bessie Smith; I used to collect 78 records that I would buy from the St Vincent de Paul store at five cents apiece, and I did this indiscriminately. I would just take whatever was there. And I listened to Patti Page and Walter Huston, 'September Song.'
August WilsonRead
I know some things when I start. I know, let's say, that the play is going to be a 1970s or a 1930s play, and it's going to be about a piano, but that's it. I slowly discover who the characters are as I go along.
August WilsonRead
When I first started writing plays I couldn't write good dialogue because I didn't respect how black people talked. I thought that in order to make art out of their dialogue I had to change it, make it into something different. Once I learned to value and respect my characters, I could really hear them. I let them start talking.
August WilsonRead
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