Merima Repesa

Elliot Rebello: Much of your art covers political and Islamic themes. Why do you think addressing these topics through art is important?

Merima Repesa: I think art is something every person can resonate with. It’s all around us in our social media, billboards, TV ads. When we see a piece of art, it has the power to encapsulate our mind. A lot of my artwork covers political themes, which has been a very popular fad for artists for some time now. I think my niche is the Islamic themes in some of my pieces. It all goes back to the tangibility of art. I aim to present Islam as I have come to understand it to a wider, non-Muslim audience.

Islam is a beautiful and peaceful religion, but you may not get that level of understanding about it from our media, especially with the state of current affairs internationally. By covering Islam, I hope to combat Islamophobia in America by normalizing its images and themes. Once people come to terms with the basic imagery of this beautiful religion, I think they’ll be more likely to see it as just that, a beautiful religion, instead of a violent and oppressive doctrine practiced only by radicals in the Middle East.

Rebello: From my own perspective, it seemed that you rose to much media attention, especially on Twitter, during the 2016 U.S. Election year. How do you think such cultural watershed moments affect artists, especially new/unknown artists?

Repesa: I actually think 2016 was an incredible time for art in general. Just like you mentioned, 2016 offered us the possibility of uniting into communities across America, especially with the help of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. A few of my rather political tweets and art pieces went viral on Twitter. One of the ones I got the most feedback from was a painting of Donald Trump in the likeness of Hitler. I could personally see a lot of hate being spewed online by supporters of Trump, which reminded me (and several others) of our history lessons on Nazi Germany.

I think people sometimes get so focused on the here and now they forget how easy it is to slide into horrible behaviors like prejudice. I think, unfortunately, after two years this piece still holds a lot of truth. In general for my art, I like doing anything that causes a reaction and just stirring the pot.

Rebello: Does your perception of the art world differ now from back when you started out?

Repesa: I think I’ve learned a lot since I really got going in my high school AP Studio Art class. I’ve since partnered with the Women’s March on Washington and started my own Merimart brand. Instead of my art being just an expression of topics I was interested in myself, I now see my art’s purpose in asking people to open their eyes to a greater truth.

Rebello: How does your own identity pervade your artwork? Do you think artwork should be evaluated entirely on its own merits or should the identity and context of the artist be used to inform such an evaluation?

Repesa: As we talked about already, I cover a lot of Islamic imagery in my art, since Islam is a pretty big part of my own life. I also like to cover feminist themes since I consider myself a feminist. I want to empower not only women but all genders to be seen and valued equally as humans.

As to your second question, I am not quite sure. I see value in both viewpoints. I think any audience should be able to take away some meaning from an art piece without necessarily knowing an artist’s backstory or motivations or whatever. But I also think that an artist’s context can have the potential to add additional dimensions to a specific piece. Like, I guess someone could see from my pieces with symbols from the Quran that I am fully Muslim as well as fully American and that could help them to view my artwork in a more educational framework instead of as just a cultural statement.

Rebello: How do you see art changing in the future? With advanced technologies, global communication and interconnectedness becoming a norm in our world, do you sense any danger of looking down on art in favor of science? Or do you perhaps see an inherent human eagerness to view and consider art, despite our increasing fascination with the technological?

Repesa: I think there will always be a place for the basic art forms like drawing and painting. It seems almost unbelievable that computers or other graphics could ever take those fundamental art styles away. But, just like it always has, I think art is likely to continue evolving, as it should. Any type of innovation, whether it's technology or engineering, helps to move us forward, and I think art should never become too comfortable in the moment either. I think there is a serious market out there in the digital space, especially with new computer technologies.

Our ability to create will be changed as we get new tools to create with. I think that helps us as artists to motivate us to try new things in our art works, perhaps like delving into new themes. As for the general audience, like I said before, art seems to be something human and common to us all. I don’t think that technology will ever entirely replace our eagerness to look at art. There will always be a need for artists in some way, whether that is the typical artist of today or whether It’s integrating art into design for industries and online spaces. The more we grow in the scientific space the more I think we will have individuals who actively pursue art since they won’t necessarily get that in their increasingly technical lives.

Rebello: Do you think art should be embraced from government/public funding to a larger extent in the future? Or do you think that social media platforms can be a way to increase this field in a sort of democratic way?

Repesa: Well, speaking as an artist, I absolutely do think art deserves more public funding. Whether its better for money to come from the government or from the people, I’m not quite sure. I tend to think the people who directly contribute to my brand and buy my works become more invested in my art, and in art generally. I think the art world could use more individuals immersing themselves in art and voting for art with their dollars. As for social media, I think making art accessible to all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, or anything else is what we should all as artists should strive towards. Just like I was only able to hit my stride in making art because a lot of people online saw my work, liked it, and retweeted it, I think many other artists or artists-to-be could make their move like that. There is definitely an element of making the process of becoming an established artist more equal through social media. I currently study business management at Bowie State University. Without Twitter or Facebook, I probably would have had to continue studio art in college to succeed as an artist. Social media has helped me to balance my passions. So when we take it all together, I think a mix of funding by both the government as well as by the people is the goal for art. Now, whether we can make that a more common reality, I am not quite sure.