CATHASIS

Catching Through Art

"Catarse is a philosophical concept that means cleansing and purification. This concept is very broad, since it is used in several branches of knowledge: arts, psychology, medicine, religion, education, among others. From the Greek, the term catharsis (Kátharsis) means purification.

For the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC), the concept of catharsis, portrayed in his work "Poetic Art", represented the purification of souls.

It occurred through a great discharge of feelings and emotions, provoked by the visualization of theatrical works: tragedies or dramas.

When the public came in contact with the poetic language, the audience was able to capture such emotions (terror, fear and pity) and thus free themselves from theirs.

In this sense, Aristotle approaches the concept of catharsis in the arts. Over the years, the concept of catharsis has expanded and is now part of several areas of knowledge, however, they all derive from the conception presented by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. "

The catharsis in the arts corresponds to the sensation of "cleanliness, lightness, renewal and purification" that the human being reaches when he comes in contact with some artistic work. We can mention painting, music, cinema, theater, dance, photography, etc.

In other words, the catharsis in the arts represents the total release of the emotional tension that will provide strong and deep emotions beyond the explosion of the immediate feeling of relief and encounter with oneself.

Art plays an important role as catharsis, because it goes against deep psychological processes, archaic concepts of our archetypes in which we symbolically confirm certain characteristics and conditions that relate to our great ignorance about ourselves and the collective of humanity, and, therefore, importance contributory in the formation of our individual personality as well as directly in the artist's. The human being develops with art and his health could not be dissociated from it. Your physical and mental and social health.

There are countless other ways of fostering new praxis for the individual suffering that the human being experiences in the world today. Of course, one does not expect to find unanimity with savage capitalism and the devastating bourgeoisie in its determinant selfishness. This fact, far from serving as a disincentive, should make even more incisive the struggle for better living conditions for the individual and for the artist who suffers. The plurality of ideas is not only inevitable, but desirable. The catharsis in art and its segments is not made of "certainties" or "truths", but of dialectics, subjectivity, humanity and hard work. The seriousness of the artistic work will only be recognized when the specificity and the usefulness of its knowledge are ostensibly proven, through its effective application within the society, aiming at the promotion and preservation of Human Rights and the struggle for them.

Luís Horácio,

A Consultation For The Paths Of Art.