Love Is The Answer

Famous street artist Banksy has long been known for his social and political art commentaries popping up around New York City as well as his elusive physical presence. Since the time that Banksy’s first art popped up until now, for over twenty years, Banksy has gone unnoticed yet omnipresent in social commentary.

Upon first seeing this street art off of the Highline, I stopped and took a photo, at first albeit for Instagram, but then I realized the metaphorical meaning in Einstein’s literal words.

Banksy’s Einstein graffiti appears around NYC; with one of the largest ones I’ve seen being seen on the Highline.  The near two story tall graphic provides a large distraction from the picturesque view of the Hudson River that’s on the other side of the Highline. Though on the day I took this photo, one of the first nice days of the spring after the dreary Manhattan winter we endured, the crowds were surrounding this art and not the views of the Hudson and clear blue sky that the day presented.

Reflecting upon this image in relation to the works we read throughout the course, you can see present the values of many of the authors we’ve read proclaiming similar messages to what fuels their desire for penning their works. Simply put: ‘love is the answer.’

Falwell, Kerouac, Day, and Ahmed all write their stories out a sense of passion. Though for Kerouac, his story is written as a work of fiction, its largely premised on extrapolations of his own life and the characters are believed by scholars to represent individuals from within his own life.

For Falwell, Ahmed, and Day, many may question their motivations for writing their respective works and the reasons, which brought them to undertake the process of penning their story for future generations to read and unveil the history of the time. Through reflecting upon their own lives, you can see that they all did so out of love for the world around them, passion for their journey and care for the future.

Even Falwell, who takes a more fearful approach at encouraging Americans that the present moment is a defining moment and one in which action needs to be taken in order to ensure America places itself back on the right track, is done out of love for his own cause; out of passion for the Fundamentalist movement, and love for both his religion and nationalistic pride as the worlds last true hope.

Furthermore, the juxtaposition of the fact that Einstein is an incredibly well regarded scientist portraying a message of love being the unequivocal answer to whatever metaphorical or rhetorical question the passer by looking at it is thinking or asking oneself acts as a fitting counterbalance to the emergence of Fundamentalism. This can be exemplified through the Fundamentalist argument during the Scopes Monkey Trial that creationism and Charles Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’ are two separate thoughts. 

Here Banksy is mixing the two and by mixing science and religion together. Through this Banksy is able to craft a powerful message that science and religion; or science and any other socio-, political, or cultural finding cannot live in isolation. Instead, the two schools are intertwined and entangled within each other.

Ahmed would also support this notion through her own personal history and viewpoints on religion as a living history. Throughout A Border Passage, Ahmed continually points to her past while looking at the memories of her life and the historical context provided through her peoples long—and intermixed—history with the land. For Ahmed, her culture and cultural history is intertwined within her religion and who she has become, however it is her everyday experiences that continue to influence her and shape her as her life progresses.

Moreover, as her life progresses she develops the belief that there is something to bring from the women’s Islam that is fundamental in the development of society. Women’s Islam is a culture of love and a culture of everyday experiences, as Banksy is pointing out in his street art here, love is the answer. And love is omnipresent in all aspects of life.