MA Fine Art: Digital (Blog)
W/C 28 SEP 2026
Reflections on Intentional and Natural Kindness
Natural Kindness, Photo by @Had2BePatient
Intentional Kindness, Photo by @Had2BePatient
This week's introduction to the MA Fine Art course was wonderfully done. Kindness, the topic of our initial group discussion, was a brilliant way to get the ball rolling, and it's led me to contemplate the correlation between Intentional and Natural kindness in the world around me.
An example of intentional kindness could be someone holding an umbrella for you in the rain or vice versa. While natural kindness could be tree foliage protecting you from an impromptu shower.
Both examples have the same function, however, the intention in the former could be brought into question.
The tree has been around for years and has provided shelter to all by simply existing, it didn't need to be taught that keeping someone out of the rain is good manners or maybe, for some, a romantic gesture.
I feel like natural kindness is harder to come by as humanity progresses. It isn't uncommon for people to use kindness for immoral ulterior motives or just plain ulterior motives, which I believe negate the kindness in which their actions were calculated to portray.
So how do you go about deciding when kindness is done for kindness sake and avoid being the victim of a fast one? Is it worth questioning the intentions behind an act of kindness, or is it better to simply accept the action for what it is and carry on?
~ Ilyaas Baker 03 OCT 2026