At Home on Raspberry Island
Building Community
It is a fair bet that Albert Einstein would have loved the colorful, fanciful, imaginative Mexican folk art exhibit presently installed on Raspberry Island. Hike down the Wabasha bridge steps or exit off of Wabasha onto Fillmore St. and you will find yourself in the presence of “Alebrijes: Keepers of the Island”. Surrounded by the Mississippi River on both sides, overlooking downtown St. Paul, Raspberry Island is the perfect venue for these four to sixteen foot vividly colorful creatures, whose heads and bodies are a fusion of a diverse and imaginative world. Einstein knew that imagination is crucial for scientific discovery, religious belief and more generally creating the type of communities and world in which we all hope to live. He would have been right at home among these bright and lively beings of the mind.
Recently a report on NPR noted that those who are now in their early 20s would have never known a time in which we were not separated into designations of red state, blue state, which only began in the early 2000s. Since then the division, hatred and animosity has only grown, creating the environment in which killing elected officials is no longer surprising. Current national leadership favors this environment, appearing to believe that hating those whose views and politics differ is not only the way to power, but an accurate reflection of human nature. It is in other words, dominate or be dominated. Control or be controlled. Be a winner or be a loser. There is no alternative to this polarization. White supremacy is particularly at home in this mindset, but it is also a tempting mindset for liberals and conservatives alike. Among other things, the “dominate or be dominated” orientation offers a shortcut to the more time consuming and challenging path of compromise, negotiation, listening and actually caring about those with whom we disagree. It often feels so much easier to live in a black and white world where there is a clear demarcation between good and bad, right and wrong, those on our side and those whom we oppose.
The question is how does a young person, who has only ever known a world of harsh division and polarization, move beyond this brutalizing approach to our common life? Is “winner take all” the only way to function in our communities or nation? Does being in leadership in one’s family, community or elected office mean dominate in order to get things done? It is hard to blame someone born after 2000 for concluding, yes, that is the way life works and as a result either withdraw into ever smaller circles of safety or on some level join the fray.
This is precisely where art like “Alebrijes: Keepers of the Island” can and does make a difference. If the current reality, whatever it might be, seems cast in stone, unbending and unchangeable, art invites imagination to see and experience things differently. What presently exists is never the limit of what might be. Imagination unleashes new possibilities. Being invited into the space of imagination is to be invited into a world of transformation where change is possible. The Human Rights Foundation observes, “Authoritarians have always understood a certain truth: creativity is a threat to their power.” Communities like the West Seventh Street neighborhood are blessed to have artists in our midst. They are a constant reminder that we can imagine a community and world that offers life to our human spirit.
Albert Einstein once said, “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.” The whimsical creatures on Raspberry Island present a direct challenge to the hopeless resignation that we must submit ourselves to bitterness, animosity and hatred. We can imagine another world. Einstein would be right at home on Raspberry Island.
