The ‘Lazarus effect’ contextualised in the arts
HAVE you ever heard of the saying that a dead man tells no tales? As you read this, many questions linger in your mind as to how this connects with the arts sector as death is a taboo topic and hence should never be spoken of.
The rhetoric is why do so many artists become known and recognised as important people that contributed to art only after their death?
Is it not the Lazarus effect in the arts sector, which also inculcates into our everyday social realities when all of a sudden there is a resurrection of creative sorts happening?
I nickname this phenomenon as the mourning after - when we cry foul about the loss of a talented creative whom we never appreciated when they were still alive and pushing their art.
The past year saw the loss of quite a number of prominent artists nationally, and also within the scale of the globe. They will not make any more creative works and their creativity has now become a work of the past and hence we can no longer bask in being their contemporaries.
On the other hand their deaths came at the end of their acclaimed lives as creatives which is also deserving of celebration of their contribution while still alive hence the need to mourn them.
But are people now using the death of artists for clout? Are we not forming the cults of the artistic dead which are becoming a form of fictional endorsement of a creative after they have died, which could have had meaning while they were still alive?
It seems that every week a major figure in the arts and the creative sector is mourned by the media. The social media walls of different influencers and brands become the obituaries that take the space and in a way this has also become a media ritual, the black veiled lamentation of the passing on of creative figures. In my view it remains an unhealthy way to celebrate them.
My view is substantiated by the interpretation that art is for the living, and if someone lived creatively and as a fan you are grateful for that, and what you have to do is support them while they are still alive so that they feel the importance of the contribution they made in the arts space.
What is the point of making a fuss when they are gone as it really is morbid and also highly inauthentic?
The fire of art is something that should illuminate the living and not in any way sanctify the dead. I like the saying which purports that the grandest of the funerals are for the soldiers - meaning that the arts sector is something that lives on as it can be not fully eulogised.
Instead of lamenting a lot, we should celebrate their achievement and say thank you while they are still among us.
Don’t we synonymise artists with being celebrities meant to be celebrated?
Unfortunately because of the quest for likes we are embroiled in a saccharine artistic morbidity. This has also led to a culture of peddling false and inaccurate news on the death of artists, and even the culture where people rather than helping at an accident scene, they take videos of the victims while in agony and in pain or even dying.
I feel all this is done in a quest to have online content and views which at times brings no meaning and honor. This is one hard hitting truth, but it has to be said.
The “Lazarus effect” is more of a myth based on the idea that an artist’s work will increase significantly in value once they have died when their art work becomes resurrected.
This is an idea that has been used by many dealers and even record companies to convince people or clients to invest in a person’s art regardless of the perceived quality.
Whilst it is easy to look at cases such as these and conclude that they serve to verify the validity of at least a delayed ‘Lazarus effect’, to do so would be to fall victim to confirmation bias as at their deaths, the artists become haunted by the ghost of their artistic past.
Their art works have more air play, they are suddenly even winners of local award ceremonies and their songs become what is called “bangers”.
But the “Lazarus” in this case of the creative is dead and the reality is his resurrection is for him to enjoy the fruit of his artistic loins. So why are we looking for the living among the dead? Why not embrace the living? For those artists living now who are currently unsuccessful, the idea of the Lazarus effect might be an easy comfort but, unfortunately, this delayed appreciation is an exception rather than the rule, and hence I weep even more.
But amidst the cries within the parameters of the arts there is also a call for hope, the image of Lazarus coming out of the grave. In writing this article, I should have given a background about Lazarus who was a biblical figure who was raised from the dead.
The arts sector too can be resurrected, and an artist in a creative low can also resurrect their career but this requires an approach that is disciplinarian.
An artist has to be insightful and sensible, which has to be a unique trait that is the drive for artistic discipline. It will play a role in keeping the art alive, and in the process push towards the steps of resilience.
Originality remains of essence and is key as there is need to share art work that is new, and people want to be mesmerized and perplexed through art that is different, and which every creative has to subscribe to.
The reality in our circumstance is that not only do people often ignore artists, but they also despise them, as figures of taboo, who tell them things they do not wish to hear.
The commercial success of an artist is based on timing and luck. A curative’s work may fall into the hands of agents, and art promoters who prefer another creative’s work that more closely resembles creative ambiences that they already enjoy. Or a decision-maker has a hunch that one artist won’t be commercially successful than the other.
Well, in Zimbabwe we should not hide from the fact that there is also a political aspect to the recognition of artists. We may not want to admit this, but well it is clear and existent in the sector. It remains a topic for another day.
To justify the above assertion an example is in how selectors may prefer friends, family members or artists recommended by their cronies to artists who are more skilled or original, regardless of their talent.
Even open competitions and contests are often political, lest we know.
However, in the end, none of these reasons for the shrouded obscurity of great artists ultimately matters much.
People become artists in the same way that others become healthcare workers, and others priests, because they feel drawn to the occupation.
But whatever artists do, they do from personal necessity and for a purpose. It is a manifest of art and of edutainment. The rest of what happens to us and our work is beyond our power to affect, impact and innovate, which is what edutainers have to do.
Raymond Millagre Langa is musician, poet, orator, independent researcher and founder of Indebo edutainment Trust. You can follow on Facebook @Millagre Ray Langa, on X you can follow on #Millagre Langa, email. millagrepapito@gmail.com or indebotrust@ gmail.com