If you have a deep need to say something about the world, about your experience of it, about your struggles, your hopes, about injustices you see...
If you say those things from a place of authenticity...
YOUR VOICE IS RELEVANT.
Whether or not what you « make » is labeled as « artistically irrelevant » by the art world.
Whether or not you had access to art education or even to art supplies in your formative years.
Whether or not you have a « following », an « audience » validating your work.
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Believing in the relevance of your voice while accepting that your work does not need to be labeled « artistically relevant » by an audience won’t eradicate self-doubt, but it is pretty damn empowering.
Claiming my own artistic irrelevance in black ink. Almost like a tattoo, on a second skin, a shirt I’ve had forever.
Why claim it out loud? So the thought of it stops uselessly going around and around in my head.
The more I meet and spend time with makers, the more I see how the question of the artistic relevance of their work is a hindrance, keeping them from fully putting themselves out there, and from truly exploring what they want to say.
Making is a compulsion, a necessity for a lot of us.
Making is life and energy.
That should be enough. ———————————————
Page 3 of self portrait book n.3, 15 year old shirt.
#printmaking #slowstitching #origami #selfportrait
