The Mighty, Small Community

By: Xavier Hardison

February 23, 2025

The mission of X-Artifacts at it's core has always been to help nourish and inspire a diverse range of creative thinking. Community, simply put, enables us to understand different perspectives, and as a result, is the catalyst to creation. As we listen to new perspectives, the experiences allow us to understand each other, and the world, in a more complete manner. In the end, we become more empathetic, understanding people.

An excerpt from Mike Savage and Alan Wade's publication, Urban Sociology, Capitalism, and Modernity, describes how "in small communities people form close, intense, and overlapping ties which bound them together into a coherent cultural whole." The reason communities exist is to enjoy a shared culture, improving the overall quality of life.

Today, as much of our social interactions have transitioned over into digital spaces, our mission becomes even more pressing. Today, culture is under attack and our quality of life is suffering because of it. Communal spaces are either being drastically reduced or gate-kept, and social networks ironically encourage a sort of "diverse uniformity". Everyone is an influencer, yet no one influences anything new.

Now, there needs to be a places (physical & digital) where being different, posing deep questions, and discovering new, unique solutions is the true norm. If everyone is trying to achieve an idealized image (as is the case today), then this shared attempt of unrecognized homogeneity only helps in producing uniform thoughts. Sadly, the power and beauty of The Individual gets extinguished.

We are a small business, and take pride in it. We understand the importance of putting individuality above AI generated statistics & idealized projections. We take it personally whenever we set out to make an artwork that embodies an element of our human condition. Our greatest strength is our proximity to life, whatever forms it may take. Where large corporations fail in trying to please everyone, we succeed by making what pleases the self.

As always, thanks for tuning in. Please feel encouraged to join this discussion by leaving any comments/thoughts you may have below!

Until next time!