Gasparilla Arts Month is everything we love about music, film, art — and Tampa Bay

This week, I learned that there’s no good collective noun for condoms. For those of you not in the word biz, we use collective nouns when we refer to groups of people, places or things, like a flamboyance of flamingos, an ostentation of peacocks or a murder of crows (who get a really bad rap all the way ‘round in literature, it seems).

How on earth did we get from Gasparilla Arts Month to condoms so quickly? That’s thanks to artist Nneka Jones, who created the sex target series you’ll see at Gasparilla Festival of the Arts. Out of — you guessed it — condoms.

I love the piece — partly because, as Jennifer Ring explains in her Gasparilla Arts Month preview, GFA exists because certain folks at the Florida State Fair didn’t like artists depicting nudity, and a condom-laden piece of art at GFA seems in keeping with tradition. But it’s mostly because visual art has the power to make each of us think critically in different ways, and it has the power to be political and beautiful all at once. Think about that: When’s the last time you heard two politicians debate and thought, Wow, that’s beautiful?

Politically, America feels like it’s devolving into tribalism, but when it comes to art, we each take away our own interpretation and in those inferred meanings, we find a sort of communion. That’s the power of art festivals, whether they’re celebrating music, art or film — we’re allowed to see things differently. Take the next few pages to plan how you’ll celebrate Gasparilla Arts Month.

And seriously, go find Jones’s piece at GFA. It’s stunning.

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This article appears in Feb 28 – Mar 7, 2019.