nonmerci Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 Question in te title^^ I never believe that being part of a minority influence a lot how people write, draw, etc, except maybe for representation. But I'm writting a bit, and now that I'm aware of my aromanticism, I noticed that it did influence my stories even before I knew I was aro, so it's not only that I'm aware of it and like to put aro people in them. For instance, I realized that one of my character was aroace even if I wrote it before I knew about that. I even wrote a relationship that fits now my definition of a QPR (or, more exactly, my definition of a QPR fits this relationship, because when I learned about QPR I thought about those characters so much that now my brain associate QPR with them). Also, I always said that romance was not mybiggest interest in my stories, that I was more interesting about writting deep (and weird) family relationships. And also, I suppose that if paintors were aroace, art history would not know all those naked paintings... So my question is : do you think that aromanticism influences art, and how? And what do you think you'd find ou not find in a story/painting written by an aromantic? What would be the clichés and genres if all artists had been aromantic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neir Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 This is a cool topic. Right off the bat I think it would depend on the person. Some people are consciously aware of their identity often, and some aren't. Some people attribute their decision making to being aro but some don't. Some people really like making their pride for their identity known in their artwork. It could inspire them. It really depends. But I certainly think it's possible! For me personally, I notice that a lot of my musical composition is really... not romantic sounding, if that makes sense. In the case of pieces with lyrics, I notice that a lot of what I used to write from the heart was about my love for things in the world and not for people. When it did involve people, it was very friendship focused. In written works, I am such a sucker for friendship dynamics so I feel that I may place a lot more importance on those interactions when I write simply because I'm romance-repulsed much of the time. I'm not sure if it's my aromanticism influencing those things or just a desire to go against the norm, where a LOT of art has to do with expressing romantic love (I'm thinking of pop songs about love, in particular). My visual art isn't really affected by my aromanticism, I don't think. That's my personal perspective! I'm curious to hear how it is for other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apathetic Echidna Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Well I know of lots of artists who make visual work and I think it is very hard to tell whether aromanticism influences their work, only one of them (that I know of) is aromantic. Their subjects and mediums are wide ranging, but I am fairly sure I would be able to pick out some of the romantics if they did blatantly romantic stuff. I don't think any of my art (read: pen scribbles) or photography (pretty much 100% landscapes) is really that influenced by my romantic orientation. In a world where all artists were aromantic I think Valentines Day would be less of a thing because there wouldn't be lots of artists to make sickening card art about it ? I read quite a lot and there was one particular story I had fun reading, it was basically insane angsty smut with some interesting plot. I got into a conversation with the author and they revealed they were Aro/Ace and used those characters for a fanfic because it can be interpreted they were also on the almost Aro/Ace end of the spectrum in canon ~ even if the author totally twisted it and added lots of sexual content and romantic-tinged obsessive possession for their own work. I do realise now thinking back that one part of the storyline deals with anatonormativity, being trapped in the marriage expectations of a social circle/society. But no, if they hadn't told me I never would have thought they were Ace/Aro. Theirs is the only long-ish work I have read by an openly out ace or aro writer, so I don't really have much to compare it to. There may be more subtle themes that I am missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naegleria fowleri Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 I suppose aromanticism would influence art in the same areas it would influence life. If someone is at odds with their aro-ness, there would probably be more conflicted feelings shown in their art/writing. If they are at peace with the single life, they may write characters who feel the same way. Looking back, I can definitely see how my aromanticism affected my writing. I hardly ever wrote romance, but when I did it always had an aro spin. Like, I would give a character a crush but it wouldn't lead anywhere. Or they would hang out as part of a friends group rather than going on a date. The best was when we had to write a narrative based on an assigned element for first year chemistry. I ended up with chlorine, and since gaseous chlorine is usually diatomic (ie. two chlorine molecules stuck together) I decided my chlorine molecule character was going to try online dating. I got about half way through before realizing I couldn't bring myself to ship these two molecules. The happy ending to me would be the chlorine molecule realizing she didn't need another molecule to make herself complete. The two molecules had no chemistry, making for a boring ass story, so I scrapped the whole thing and pounded out a 1,000 word story about the first chlorine gas attack of WWI from the point of view of a chlorine molecule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felinelicks Posted June 15, 2018 Share Posted June 15, 2018 Depends on the person, but in general i think people tend to project their own experiences onto their art, especially if it involves storytelling. So not everything they create will be influenced by being arospec, but it'll probably show up somewhere. I've realized this lately about my writing. It focuses heavily on familial or platonic relationships, with romance either ignored or added in as an afterthought. Sometimes i'm able to turn the romantic relationships into something interesting, but other times they end up underdeveloped. When i do have two characters i genuinely want to pair together, it's more sexual than anything. It's basically a close friendship with lust, not love. And the reason all my romances focused on the stage where the characters are attracted to each other and eventually have sex but still aren't "an item" is because that's the part i actually like. I lose interest when they become a couple, so in my writing they never really get there, remaining in that gray area between friends and lovers. Funnily enough, i also have a relationship i associate with QPRs because they fit that definition so well lol and i didn't realize i was aro when i wrote it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Interesting topic! I think perhaps being Aro would affect the way you make art (i refer to art as writing, since i'm familiar with that). Maybe being Aro would allow one to be able to write kickass aro characters, but might have trouble portraying romantic relationships if they've personally never experienced attraction like that. as pan, i've felt the need write more pan characters, or rather just more LGBT characters in general for the representation. i find that these kinds of characters are fun to write, because the characters can be so diverse! the story could be about them discovering + exploring their orientation, or be something that's just a part of them that exists! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonmerci Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 Reading all your answers was interesting. On 6/13/2018 at 4:56 AM, running.tally said: When it did involve people, it was very friendship focused. In written works, I am such a sucker for friendship dynamics so I feel that I may place a lot more importance on those interactions when I write simply because I'm romance-repulsed much of the time. I'm not sure if it's my aromanticism influencing those things or just a desire to go against the norm, where a LOT of art has to do with expressing romantic love (I'm thinking of pop songs about love, in particular). Same for me. It always surprised me to see all those songs about love : I feel like 75% of songs talk about that. Maybe the Reason why I got into musicals in the first place is because it offers me more variety. On 6/13/2018 at 10:26 AM, Apathetic Echidna said: I do realise now thinking back that one part of the storyline deals with anatonormativity, being trapped in the marriage expectations of a social circle/society. But no, if they hadn't told me I never would have thought they were Ace/Aro. It fits my experience. You can't tell that I'm aro by reading me, but I realized that a lot of my romantic relationship doesn't end well or are dysfunctional or not reciprocated, and that I value other types of love like friendship or family (I focus a lot about family). Like, once I build an entire prophecy about my hero finding a former love, and a love triangle, which ends up with my hero realizing that the prophecy wasn't talking about his ex but about his family. I don't know if it is because I'm aro or just to go against the main Stream, but I never present love as the ultimate thing ever, even when it works. On 6/13/2018 at 10:14 PM, Naegleria fowleri said: I suppose aromanticism would influence art in the same areas it would influence life. If someone is at odds with their aro-ness, there would probably be more conflicted feelings shown in their art/writing. If they are at peace with the single life, they may write characters who feel the same way. It makes sense. When I wrote aro characters, they usually don't care a lot about their aspect of their personnality, they are ok with it. I suppose that an aro person who had a lot of problems because of that would more write characters who have to deal with negationism, people who wants to ship them no matter what. On 6/15/2018 at 2:08 AM, brook_worm said: I lose interest when they become a couple, so in my writing they never really get there, remaining in that gray area between friends and lovers. I feel you. I hate, when two characters become a couple, how they can't stop cuddling and looking at each other all the time. Usualy, my characters become a couple at the very end, so I can stay with an ambiguous relationship that I affectionate more. On 6/19/2018 at 5:01 AM, sunshine said: Interesting topic! I think perhaps being Aro would affect the way you make art (i refer to art as writing, since i'm familiar with that). Maybe being Aro would allow one to be able to write kickass aro characters, but might have trouble portraying romantic relationships if they've personally never experienced attraction like that. as pan, i've felt the need write more pan characters, or rather just more LGBT characters in general for the representation. i find that these kinds of characters are fun to write, because the characters can be so diverse! the story could be about them discovering + exploring their orientation, or be something that's just a part of them that exists! It reminds me when I learned I was aroace and that I began to put aro and/or ace characters everywhere . And it's ture that it easier for me to write an aro character that romantic Relationship sometimes. I mean, I have romance in my stories, but when I have to describe attraction I feel so alienated : before I knew I was aro, I was wondering why I was writting that because nobody is attrected like that to a person they don't know, except that in fact they really do. And sometimes I have to remember that my characters are not aro and that attraction is a part of their life. Writting aro characters is easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aro_elise Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 i'm a fashion design student and haven't explored aromanticism in any of my designs yet, though i have thought about it. (most of my designs are in my head, anyway ?). i've written a few songs, one of which is about my experience with my relationship and how it related to my aromanticism. i do dance choreography...nah, nothing there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmbo Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 57 minutes ago, aro_elise said: i'm a fashion design student and haven't explored aromanticism in any of my designs yet, though i have thought about it. Tell us more ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aro_elise Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 1 hour ago, Holmbo said: Tell us more ? idk, i'm going in two different directions. one is the obvious green palette and yellow roses, maybe a flag-striped garment ; the other is an overtly romantic, valentine-y aesthetic, you know, red hearts, lace, sort of a parody of romance. i'm working on merging design elements and motifs into one collection concept, but i may end up developing them separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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