Fragmented Society

 

Bottles and Fishes by Georges Braque; Source: Tate

During the Modernism movement, new tools and materials were available to artist that allowed them to experiment with new styles and techniques.  One of the techniques that spawned from this experimentation was cubism.  Georges Braque's painting, Bottles and Fish, display, as the title suggests, bottles and fish on a table.  However, Braque's use of cubism gives a distorted view of those ordinary objects, creating something far less recognizable.

This distorted and unrecognizable view was how many people saw society during this time period.  Industrialization and World War had brought rapid change, causing disillusionment in humanity.  Cubism was one of many techniques that were used to visually represent how warped people believed society had become.  People felt lost, having to search for meaning in a world they no longer understood.

Similarly to the time of modernism, today's world is undergoing rapid change.  For many people, the covid-19 pandemic drastically changed lives in a matter of weeks.  Even once the pandemic ends, the world will be permanently changed.  Climate change, though being a long-time issue, is reaching a climax; wildfires, hurricanes, and temperatures making new records each year.  A future where people will be forced to leave their homes permanently because of extreme weather is in sight.  Politically, the US is becoming increasingly polarized, with debates that seem to focus more on insults than actual policy.  Today's world is in the middle of rapid change, and, for many people, probably seems unrecognizable and unfamiliar: a warped and fragmented society.