Repurposing has been a common practice throughout history, and some may argue that art is meant to be repurposed to inspire or provoke thought.

I manipulated an image below of Bansky’s original artwork and converted those images into gifs through giphy.com.

The project was created for CT 101 at York College with Professor Ryan Seslow.

Start date 2023

Whether memes qualify as art opens up a broader discussion about our definition of art rather than limiting the conversation to the digital medium used. It recognizes that memes can be a mode of creative expression and prompts us to consider how they can be situated into the broader landscape of artistic expression.

The Verge The story of the internet, as told by Know Your Meme “argues that meme culture isn’t malevolent so much as it is amoral; it’s a mirror held up to the culture of the internet, which “increasingly does not care about the truth, and cares only about the narrative, the myth.” Similarly, creative works such as novels, poems, and screenplays are adapted, reimagined, transformed, and adjusted to provide diverse sources of inspiration and entertainment. At some point, I’m sure there was discussion regarding whether the medium utilized in photography and film should also be classified as art.

Click gif for link on giphy.com “Hustler Club,” artist Bansky, Photograph of poster taken by J. Morton @ 2023 exhibit, Tribeca, NY.