Real Life as a context (Part 1)
For the longest time, I was struggling to reconcile the differentiation between work and life. Whenever I had to share about my work through more formal channels like portfolios, CVs, and even social media, I feel a strong inner tussle - where do I draw the line? At which point will I be ‘sharing too much’ or ‘sharing inappropriately’?
I don’t know when and how this line came to matter, but it did. The more I wanted to tell the world about my work, the more I negotiated boundaries and applied filters to the words I would use and images I would upload. Almost as if all of these will determine how professional I am, how legitimate I am.
Recently, I have come to discover how much this process of self-censoring has shielded me from myself. All this time, I have become isolated from who I really am, from the things I really wanted to say, from the works I really wanted to make, all while trying to follow an invisible manual for ‘how to be a real artist’. Put together subconsciously over long periods of time, observing others, comparing, taking notes, defining, I refereed to this invisible manual for a definition of who an artist is and what an artist does. I had created a box that I could not fit in.
The more I tried to fit in it, the further away I went, falling out of alignment with my true creative self.
Diagram of how I operate as an artist with real life as a context
A recent breakthrough helped me realise that when I removed the line I drew between work and life, who I am at life and at work could came together harmoniously, where both selves would compliment and nourish each other. These days the question becomes, ‘do I need to draw a line?’, ‘What does this line mean, if it exists and if it does not?’, ‘Who does this line matter to?’ This is where the idea of real life as a context comes in.
The way I operate as an artist is first and foremost grounded in the belief that art IS in the everyday and that creativity IS innate. Said here, ‘art’ is a tool, a process AND an outcome, that can be used and applied in various situations in real life - having a difficult conversation about life and death, working through emotional blocks in therapy, unraveling mental obstacles in a coaching conversation. Perhaps the use of the word ‘art’ itself is what has made everything so confusing - this term can be so broad yet defined at the same time.
We usually refer to art as visually appealing, tangible outcomes and use this word to describe something subjective, something that is interpreted with feelings. I will say that ‘works of art’ in this case might serve as a better phrase because it acknowledges that the ‘visually appealing, tangible outcomes’ are merely that. Works. Products of creativity; creativity in expression, creativity in problem-solving, creativity in experimentation. ‘Art’ in the phrase ‘works of art’ can then be further unpacked to be a few things - art in the practicing of creativity, self-expression, inquiry, curiosity, experimentation, research and many more, all of which basically describes what an artist mainly does.
When I think about real life as a context, it calls to mind the thoughts shared by Goda Palekaite, curator of Rupert’s Alternative Education Programme, in a recent interview conducted by Rupert Residency. The interview poses a question: “What remains outside of creativity?”
I consider this question in relation to how artists are regarded, valued and recognised. Beyond creativity in making and expression, how else does it come through in real life when artists undertake other roles like project managers, executives, leaders, learners, colleagues, friend, human?
What if the identity of an artist was not seen as an occupation or a career, but a way of being, how will that change the way creatives look at themselves and their work? How will it change the way others see creativity, as a form of expreession and a tool?
