Meet Martin Krafft

Today we’d like to introduce you to Martin Krafft.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I didn’t have much of an art background in college. I studied creative writing and economics and took a few photo classes. My photo professor and I stayed friends, though, and he encouraged me to think about committing to being an artist, so after several years I ended up applying to grad school in photography. Now, I’m not even doing photography as much as video and socially engaged artwork.

Please tell us about your art.
I am interested in exploring and understanding my identity as a precursor to and reason for engaging with the diverse world around me. If I understand the privilege that I have as a white man from an upper-middle class background, then I feel compelled to stand alongside people who don’t have those same privileges, to listen to their stories and when possible collaborate to distill those stories into art. Right now, that’s mostly taking the form of experimental documentary. I made a video about masculinity in which I hit a block of wood with a sledgehammer over and over again; it never cracks. It seemed an accurate representation for the ways in which men try to create and foster healthy relationships lacking the right tool set to do so. I’ve also been working with Elena Makansi to create the Snowflakes art action group. We did a memorial for past and potential victims of gun violence that tries to bring attention to the emotional impact of gun violence, inviting participants to trace the faces of those who have been shot. Our group is founded upon the idea that art is for everyone, and that the difference between art and activism isn’t actually that important, and that we should be able to move fluidly between them.

What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
It’s hard to know what the situation was like for artists in the past, as a younger person, but I’d imagine since the NEA artist grants got cut that being an artist is much more of a struggle. You certainly don’t go into it hoping to make money. In grad school, you have to work your butt off and if you’re really lucky, you don’t have to take out loans. The most important things that cities can do is just invest money in the arts. If your city wants a good art scene, it needs to be offering artist grants and project grants for local residents.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best way to see my work right now is on my website. There’s also the Snowflakes FB page: https://www.facebook.com/snowflakesavalanche/, where we let people know about our projects. For some of our Snowflakes projects, we crowdsource to fund them, so keep an eye out for future projects if you’d like to support.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.martinkrafft.com
• Email: krafft1@email.arizona.edu

Image Credit:
Martin Krafft

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