There Is An Artist In All Of Us

I Remember Everything (2014)

Waiting to come out. Waiting to be given a chance to express something. Everything.

Whatever way creativity finds, there is always more you bring to the table than just what you feel in that very moment or moments of actual creation. If you want it or not. There is a history. Everything you have ever done, said, felt, heard, seen and dreamed of. Your particular idea of life and your existence, your perception of the world around you. Your joy and sadness. Your expectations and disappointments. Your wisdom and stupidity. Your knowledge and ignorance. Your empathy and arrogance. Everything you are.

And given that this combination which underlies constant change and evolution, I think it is safe to say that you, as anybody else, are unique. And that whatever you create is also. Or at least it can be. If you don’t take shortcuts in the process, as I have written about here.

It is not enough to just do something and assume it will be unique just because I am. It is essential to know what you are doing, why you are doing it and to reflect on such things that have to do with the way you express yourself using whatever medium or combination of media you have chosen. Or that seems to have chosen you.

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”

— Ansel Adams

It might sound strange, but I guess being an artist entails doubting you actually are one. So you have to go back and re-evaluate all over again. Not to be in constant fear not to be good enough, but to never get too comfortable with where you are in your evolution as an artist.

The simple fact that you are thinking about this, contemplating this very moment and you in it, will show you the way, Which will always lead you to the next moment. And the next. And along with the practicing of your art, the daily dealing with the craft that your art is as well as aesthetic undertaking, this will eventually make you a more aware person. And the artist inside you will be free. To take any direction, live all your dreams, tell all the stories and to breathe life into everything you create.