Rage
“Anger, then, is only for the obligated; for those who deal with significant things.”
“There are situations in which it is more dangerous to maintain balance than to lose it.” — Adam Phillips.
Anger always leaves a large void behind it, into which a flood of sorrow pours instantly, and keeps on flowing like a great river, without beginning or end.”― Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
. The world around us is chaotic; in fact, not only is the world around us like that, even within us the volcanic eruptions threaten to destroy us. It’s hard to miss the feeling that violence between people, against nature, and nature’s response to us is increasing. What worries me the most as a psychologist in Tel Aviv is the hidden violence and anger. It’s the kind we don’t see, yet it stirs us. Instead of causing an outburst, it creates a distortion. We are afraid of anger, and part of the social and personal way of dealing with it is an attempt to control and censor it. Modern psychologists, beginning with Freud, highlight a conflict. This conflict exists between individuals and society. It considers both personal boundaries and the needs of the group. There’s a conflict between wanting to adapt and needing to express oneself. This tension exists between the pleasure principle and cultural expectations. This conflict appears in various forms throughout history and is resolved differently in each place. Anger is one of the emotions that most threatens the status quo, the balance. Anger can manifest itself in violence. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between them. Anger is part of the psychology of rebellion and thus needs to be monitored. Anger, like fear, can be the killer of reason. Turning us from rational beings into those who are not. But we need to recognize that a world without anger is a boring and stifling place. It can lead to feelings of depression and oppression. Anger is our power against oppression, the one from the outside and the one that we unconsciously exert on ourselves. And another thing we must remember is that anger and rage are energy that is not lost — it just changes its form. Societies channel the anger of individuals into supposedly socially beneficial places, but often there are prices that someone else pays for that repressed violence.
“Sanity, as the project of keeping ourselves recognizably human, therefore has to limit the range of human experience. To keep faith with recognition we have to stay recognizable. Sanity, in other words, becomes a pressing preoccupation as soon as we recognize the importance of recognition. When we define ourselves by what we can recognize, by what we can comprehend — rather than, say, by what we can describe — we are continually under threat from what we are unwilling and/or unable to see. We are tyrannized by our blind spots, and by whatever it is about ourselves that we find unacceptable.” -Adam Phillips
Paradoxical Anger
Like many other emotions, the intensity of the emotion makes it paradoxical; it destroys and builds at the same time. Anger can be a double-edged sword. It can hurt us and others. It can be a storm that drowns and sows destruction, but the same energy can build us up and save us from the prison we have fallen into. In an outburst of anger, people can experience a lack of control, even a loss of reason. But this is precisely what can make it the main tool of liberation — the door to freedom.
What is anger?
The psychology community disagrees on whether anger is a primary or secondary emotion. Wikipedia states that anger is a secondary emotion. It is a mental and physical response to sadness, fear, or frustration. Anger usually comes with pain, suffering, and feelings of harm or danger. It often feels like a strong, explosive energy in the body. Anger brings both mental and physical changes. When we get angry, our pulse and blood pressure rise. Also, levels of stimulating hormones like adrenaline increase.
Protest and Rebellion
“ANGER IS FUEL. WE feel it and we want to do something. Hit someone, break something, throw a fit, smash a fist into the wall, tell those bastards. But we are nice people, and what we do with our anger is stuff it, deny it, bury it, block it, hide it, lie about it, medicate it, muffle it, ignore it. We do everything but listen to it.”
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Anger is meant to be listened to. Anger is a voice, a shout, a plea, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map. Anger shows us what our boundaries are. Anger shows us where we want to go. It lets us see where we’ve been and lets us know when we haven’t liked it. Anger points the way, not just the finger. In the recovery of a blocked artist, anger is a sign of health.
Anger is meant to be acted upon. It is not meant to be acted out. Anger points the direction. We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us. With a little thought, we can usually translate the message that our anger is sending us.” — The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Frida Orofbo
Frida Orofbo is a Norwegian-Nigerian artist and sociologist. She views anger, especially female anger, as essential. It’s crucial for recognition and serves as a tool for change and new narratives. She knows images can teach and shape people and societies. So, she makes video installations and collages. She mainly uses digital images of Black female bodies. These sources include academic, medical, and scientific materials, pop culture, and old photos, mainly from colonial archives. Through these, she creates new images of Black identity.
Her art creates a renewed perspective on Black women who have often been fetishized or dehumanized. Her work seeks to honor the anger of Black women while refuting the stereotype of the angry Black woman and the traditional white racial gaze. The works show how beauty and horror, vulnerability and strength, can overlap in stories.
Her 2022 work, “The Angry One,” is included in her current solo exhibition, Closed Up Like a Fist at Nicola Vassell Gallery in New York. This image is part of a bigger project. It explores the generational trauma and survival strategies of Black girls and women. Here, a young Black girl stands boldly, looking directly at the viewer. Under one leg is a doll with a separate Black and white head attached to each end of a shared torso. The girl has a collaged white pilgrim collar on her bulging chest. She wears a pair of red panties, her legs bare down to her bare feet. Her arm is twisted, severed at the wrist, where it merges seamlessly into the small bag she carries. Her gaze is angry and piercing, defying any viewer who would dare try to subdue her or exploit her body, mind, or soul. And yet there is a considerable vulnerability, amplified by the presence of the doll. We remember that this girl is still a girl.
The way in which anger can be tolerated and even encouraged seems to be related to who is angry. Who is allowed to be angry, who has the right to be angry, and how it is allowed to be expressed. This is a right that is often defined politically and socially. In Israel, Palestinians can feel anger, but it comes with a condition: your anger is okay as long as it doesn’t affect us. Groups, societies, and states often rely on controlling and exploiting others. This is done by one class, group, race, or gender. So, the right to be angry and how we manage that anger is a key issue. Girls and women over the years have been conditioned to think of their anger as inappropriate: as hysteria, as madness, as problematic. The result is that women often suppress, question, or feel guilty about their anger. They may also be punished for it in ways that can be ordinary or extreme. Historically, recognizing and owning anger helped women awaken to a new awareness. This awareness led them to take control of their lives. The women’s struggle for abortion and control over their bodies is one example of this. Talking about anger socially reflects our inner psychology. How we experience anger helps define who we are. Donald Winnicott, a key figure in modern psychology, linked aggression to creativity and to how we build our sense of self. Anger, frustration, and aggression are the psychological building blocks that a person must deal with in order to become a person.
