THE COW,
THE MAN,
THE MONALISA
Why Do We Need Art?
A cow looks at the Mona Lisa and says, “Moooo.” A human looks at the same painting and says, “Awwww.” The painting hasn't changed, but the experience has. To the cow, it might just be an object; to the human, it can be a story, an emotion, a mystery, or a masterpiece. And that raises an interesting question: why do we create art when we don't necessarily need it to survive? We don't need photography to breathe, painting to eat, music to find shelter, or dance to get from one place to another. Yet, for thousands of years, humans have continued to create things that serve no immediate biological purpose. Perhaps it's because human beings don't just experience the world; we interpret it. We attach meaning to what we see, connect emotions to what we hear, and find stories in things that might otherwise seem ordinary. A photograph becomes a memory, a painting becomes a perspective, a melody becomes an emotion, and a dance becomes a language without words. Art allows us to express what we cannot always explain, preserve what time would otherwise take away, and communicate experiences that another person may never have lived through. Design takes this further by turning ideas into meaningful communication, helping people understand, recognise, navigate, and connect. But art doesn't always need to serve a practical purpose. Sometimes, its purpose is simply to make us feel something, question something, or see something differently. Perhaps that is what makes human creativity so fascinating: we don't create only because we need something; we create because we can imagine meaning beyond what already exists. Art is not essential to keeping the human body alive, but it has become an essential part of how many humans express, interpret, and experience life. And maybe that's the difference between looking at something and actually seeing it. The cow sees the Mona Lisa; the human wonders why she is smiling. And somewhere between that smile and the questions it leaves behind, art begins.
by Karim Mirza
© BIGCAT CREATIVE STUDIO
