Ellen, this artistic floor piece is an excellent analogy for how community can uphold or hold back its individuals.

Our inherent need for validation and identity are such strong motivators for conformity. And we tend to view the community as a large single entity rather than what it actually is — essentially a collection of individuals — so we perceive it as more powerful than the power we can hold as individuals.

You described the repercussions of that so aptly:

“It may make us judge renegades whose message we actually believe in simply because their defiance feels like a threat. It may invalidate an internal voice that questions the world we see around us, making us accept things that somewhere deep down we know are unacceptable.”

There’s a saying along the lines that a group is only as strong as it’s weakest individual. And as a group is made up of its many individuals, we all play a role.

If providing support requires a collective awareness of the strengths, weaknesses and differences within a community (people), how to communicate those variables in a way that upholds its individuals (each person), i.e. which enables them to be part of the group as well as embrace their differences within the group?

You may have a good answer:

“Artists, some say, use visual language to declare more than words can make us understand.”

We were drawing pictures on cave walls before we learnt to speak, and visual story-telling sits deep within us.

Using creative expression as a narrative device definitely can be a powerful method of communication and support. But it can be used on either side of the coin — to uphold the individuals of a community and the community … or, on the flip side, to hold them up.

This may sound like “ideal world” stuff. To make the ideal (or the myth) real though, perhaps we need to work more on our awareness and self-awareness, to build a stronger collective. It starts with us as individuals.

Just a few humble thoughts, as your article has given me food for thought. Thanks :)