matthewnatyo.wixsite.com

I’m a graphic designer and painter (among other things). I’d say most would, at least, agree we are in interesting times. I have recently finished a work using art to send a message about the world we are passing on to future generations. It is intentionally using generalized elements to represent different issues. I realize it’s a heavy image, I leave any decision of site violations to the page administration.

I initially planned to leave it as-is but have written a post about my inspiration:

“The piece speaks for itself. All I can add is what brought me to create it, aside from the obvious.

I’m Gen X. I saw the end of the punk movement before there was Hot Topic and it was still something that made grown-ups really nervous. I saw the end of the Cold War when people still saw big red buttons everywhere but far enough along to know “duck and cover” was as placating as it was useless.

I saw Live Aid when I was little and found out about things like Earth Day and i remember getting so excited about the biggest names in everything getting together in all these massive events to end hunger, end war and fix the environment. They managed to do something but when the dust settled, people still starved, everyone was still at war and talk of the environment was still brushed off as “hippie bullshit”. But they didn’t fail… I did. I remember thinking “If Michael Jackson, U2, some of the Beatles and all these others can’t fix this, what can I do? How do I fix a world that seems to want to stay broken?”.

I remember in high school, getting “the talk”. How we are the future and how much it will all be our responsibility. We even got the disapproving scan and the inspirational “I weep for the future” comment. As the teacher spoke, I remember realizing this is being told me by people doing nothing about the present. They were giving us a world we didn’t want. All I was being taught was how to pass the buck onto someone else.

I saw the grunge era. I was even in a band once that a local magazine once accused me of having “Vedderitis”. I’ve been thru all the angst and disillusionment but it never spilled out onto the streets, it never transformed into real action.

I can’t speak for my generation, only myself but I think my fight (and it may be true for others) became internal: I was fighting my own cynicism and nihilism. I was beaten before I ever got into the ring. There have been other attempts and others have risen above that to get into the fray and we all seemed to have the desire but the spark never seemed to fully ignite.

Now the new generation is stepping in. A lot of people love complaining about millennials. I suppose the irony of the hipster culture can be a little much but considering I’ve been around for hammer-pants and Jnco jeans, I can’t complain too much.

Movements like MarchForOurLives, BlackLIvesMatter and the people being born from them is giving me more hope than I’ve felt in a while. For myself, I’m grateful for millennials. They are doing what I always wanted to do but couldn’t get myself to do so. They are succeeding where I failed.

I’m not pity partying. At times, I’ve managed to make some real efforts but I’m glad to see what is beginning to happen. This is the pushback I’ve always wanted. This is the pushback we’ve always needed. I rebelled but not enough. I wish all of us that came before could have given them more.

So here’s to you millennials…

May you keep rebelling and take over everything.”

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…A Thousand Words