Inspiration or Defiance

As an artist, I see my role as encouraging people to reflect, to inspire them, and to open perspectives that often remain hidden in everyday life due to countless influences such as experiences, social media, and more. Art thrives on dialogue, on friction, on the willingness to ask questions and to be surprised by new answers even when they do not align with one’s own morals and values.

Inspiration or Defiance

In recent years, however, I have observed how the corridors of opinion are narrowing. Those who cannot be immediately and clearly assigned to one side are pushed, labeled, and excluded. Neutrality or the honest search for truth seems to have almost no room anymore. In fact, even neutrality itself has been interpreted as a political stance in certain debates in the Swiss media.

Legally, freedom of speech allows us to say anything, but in reality one loses reputation, jobs, connections – one is pushed aside. Not because one is against something, but because one dares not to be immediately for or against whatever the majority currently deems right.

Exaggeratedly put, I consider this dangerous. Without openness to look at things from a new angle, we cannot grow as a society. Those who prefer to stay comfortably on the couch may feel safe, but they miss the adventure of growth and sooner or later reality will catch up with them as well.

Artists in particular know: we must believe in the good. It is our inner engine that drives us to carry beauty and hope to people despite resistance. We depend on those who have the courage to support us, who do not remain stuck in comfort, but embrace change and innovation.

If we forget this as a society, we are doomed to fail. But if we keep the good alive within us, art becomes more than just a painting, a sculpture, a statement, or a piece of work it becomes movement, future, and the chance to move forward together.

Kind regards

Alexander Palacios