An artifact can be defined as an object made by man, as opposed to natural; an object produced for functioning in the field of art (Hoły-Łuczaj, 2020). Mostly, the term ‘artifact’ is used in archeology and refers to an object found by archeologists. However, any kind of artificial product such as music, movies, theatre performances, handicrafts can be called an artifact. Artifacts usually carry historical value, giving an opportunity to dive into human history and discover the past. However, some artifacts can have ethical values as well.
Ethics is known as moral standards or norms regarding a specific situation that occurred. Ethical values are defined mainly by the culture and religion of people. Therefore, the ethical values of various nations can differ from each other.
An example of an ethical artifact can be a famous painting, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, which was created by John Constable in 1831. The picture was painted a year after the death of the artist’s wife, Maria. The painting includes bright clouds behind thunderclouds with a rainbow, a church, and a tree. The artist brings the theme of grief into the painting. The ethical value of the painting is about the person’s right not to grief and be happy after the death of their loved one. The painting shows the inner ethical struggle of the artist to feel happy after the death of his wife, which can be seen in thunderclouds as a symbol of grief, and the rainbow as a symbol of happiness and hope. The bottom left side of the painting contains a dark mood with church and grave marker, while the top right side is bright, with a rainbow and a clear sky. These features of the painting clearly indicate a wide range of emotional states of the artist during that period. Hence, the artists’ emotional state was somewhere between grieving and other positive emotions, indicating the struggle with an ethical issue of grieving.
Reference
Hoły-Łuczaj, M. (2020). Postnatural-environmental ethics of artifacts as a challenge to capitalism. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 1–17.