In debating if Memes are considered to be art we must first look closely at both memes and art.

According to Oxford Languages, Art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

However with new technologies art has evolved and there are new types of art such as graphical art with new medium such as the internet.

In the article ‘ The surprising academic origins of memes‘ by Erhan Asian, The Conversation, it is stated that “Meme creators use “multimodal grammar” (in other words, images and captions) to express and share ideas and opinions.” People who then share these memes on their social media platforms with their friends then add a personal meaning to memes.

Richard Dawkins, a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author define a meme is “a unit of cultural transmission or imitation”.  It is said that memes are linked to evolutionary biology and have been compared to genes because of how memes flow with the evolution of culture.

with this we can see the academic and artistic component that memes of comprised of.

Here is a video of Richard Dawkins speaking about Memes.

In my opinion Memes are art, with the facts I’ve listed above it is impossible to not see the connection between Art and Memes.

My CT101 meme

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