As I’m thinking for my article to our third entry in which talks about ARTS, it suddenly hits my head… the term “PLANKING”. Supposedly, I’ve already got ideas and information related to this and even new sort of it, the do’s and don’ts or as well as the evolution of it as it takes stand to the Art industry. But then, when one of my classmates asked me of what's our topic all about ...and then, she told some interesting thing about it that leads me to divert my attention into some argumentative piece.
ART is an innovative thing. It deals with our innate creativity and even tells a history…a culture. Art is anything you can get away with. It’s a creative skill, a communication tool to express one’s self and an explorer of the world’s darkest and biggest secrets. And by that, I figure out without hesitation, that the hottest trend in FB and other OSN (Online Social Networking), the PLANKING is an art indeed! ART is a visual thing, a form of music, or a form of performance and obviously, PLANKING belongs to latter. But do we know where it starts? How does it popularized? What’s the real score of it?
PLANKING is not just a piece of leaf blooms in a certain plant by means of grafting. It has deeper means. It was mainly rooted on the history of African-American slavery, or what they called it as “Middle Passage”. During this period, Africans were sold as slave. Of course, during those dreadful years, we already knew the process, and sufferings of the black men. They were sold and trade in different counts. They were estimated at 5 million to 30 million people placed in a slave ship and take a long voyage from 6 to 8 months. The Africans were tie up and oblige to go below the deck wherein there’s only a much contracted space for them. For that, they were lie down here inversely, eat there, sleep, gave birth, starved and even died without knowing where they will go. Good thing, historians got a very crucial evident to the history as what stated in an account of Mr. Falconbridge during that horrific scene.
Moreover, this so-called slavery act transformed into a kind of body art. From earthworks, installations and conceptual arts, Mr. Dennis Oppenheim break a leg into another dimension of art, the body art. He coined the term after he studied the “Earth and Land art” and pursue it in his performance during 1970, the Parallel Stress. He says that this kind of outdoor art demands to be revealed since it was not done before and by this simple piece, emerged into famous and popularized performance until it was given back to life on the late 2000’s in Europe and to present all around the world.
On its overriding demand in various medium, some people divert it from a simple pastime into a form of having their grievances to our current administration and now, the Government wants to ban this by pursuing an Anti-Planking Bill.
The bottom of this article is mainly about on its censorship. Honestly, I don’t even care about it for as long it was a kind of art, of expressing funny figure, and a type of having one’s attention…or whatever! What matter most, for me, is that, this kind of art makes a step in popularizing the essence of evolving figure of ARTS. But in some point, it makes me so baffled for this kind of free will and RIGHTS has been concealed in the coming future. A kind of right? YES! Seemingly, it is one of the most peaceful ways of adhering one’s free will on acting of his grievances. It’s far diverging on Marcos regime wherein people take their grievances by means of noise barrage. Also, it was abridging the Art.3, Sec.4
For me, this kind of ART is really crucial in the history of itself. It takes a lot of stories. It’s not just a prank thing to do or an absurdity but taking a great courage to do it. Personally, as I look those pictures of people doing this, and typing that information I’ve read, I take a stand on which PRO to this. Now, I look it much significant. It commemorates to the suffering of those millions of slaves and instead of mocking, I’ll do it for it’s a symbol of bravery and determination to live in this tremendous world of reality without the enforcement of “banality”.
PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS ADVISED!
Posted By: Sharon May L. Elorde
