Susan Sontag - An Argument About Beauty (2005)

This week I’ve been reading Susan Sontag’s 2005 essay “An Argument About Beauty.” What struck me is how conflicted we are about beauty. On one hand, we crave it, surround ourselves with it, and let it shape what we find meaningful. On the other, beauty is often treated as shallow, suspect, or even dangerous. As Sontag puts it, “Beauty has never been democratic. It is always a privilege.” That reminder makes me think about how access to beauty: who gets to embody it, who gets to produce it, has always been tied up with power. It’s also got me thinking about pursuing passion being the realm of the privileged, and also how beauty in architecture and public spaces is typically the realm of the wealthy. These displays of power dynamics are perhaps the most obvious, but nonetheless illustrate the point of the essay well.

Sontag also writes that “beauty defines itself as the antithesis of the ugly,” which makes me think about how rigid those categories can be, and how art has the potential to blur or collapse them. This feels really relevant to my own practice. I’m drawn to things people might dismiss as “pretty” or “girly.” I’ve always felt that pull, but I’ve also felt the cultural baggage that comes with it, like beauty somehow makes the work less serious, and it’s been a hugely limiting belief in my time at RMIT so far. Reading Sontag makes me see that suspicion of beauty as part of a long history, not just my personal hang-up.

What I take from the essay is a reminder that beauty isn’t neutral, but neither is it frivolous. It shapes how we see the world and each other. In my practice, I want to embrace that double edge and to use beauty deliberately, knowing it can seduce and unsettle at the same time.