“I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free” (18)
- Q: Have you felt trapped inside of someone else’s imagination? How have you broken free?
I think in responding to this, I have to consider if I actually have broken free. At the macro level, I think it’s safe to say that I have not. I feel very trapped inside the imagination of a capitalistic, materialistic, progress-for-progress’s sake culture. Despite lofty goals, I find it hard to break from the worn-in paths defined above. But if I have taken anything from this reading, it is that a macro-level reading of experience might not be the most fruitful place to start, so let’s look for some bright spots, shall we?
Being an artist, maker, and designer is a break from some imaginations. Growing up, I knew that I was vocationally called to making things, but it was not clear how that would translate into a career path. It is probably a similar story for many such artists and designers (and peers in this program!), but the imagined state of “starving artist” is pervasive. I was lucky to have a network of support that trusted me as I learned to trust myself, fumbling forward through art, craftspersonship, and several other threads to my current home in the world of design.
Other examples might be found in moments of change — moving to new cities, leaving jobs, leaving boyfriends. Deciding that something different is out there, and that “different” looked promising. I do want to spend more energy imagining futures that I want to see, for myself and for the world around me.
- Small is good, small is all.
- Change is constant. (Be like water.)
- There is always enough time for the right work.
- There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.
- Never a failure, always a lesson.
- Trust the people. (If you trust the people, they become trustworthy.)
- Move at the speed of trust. Focus on critical connections more than on critical mass — build the resilience by building the relationships.
- Less prep, more presence.
- What you pay attention to grows.
Q: Do you find any of these principles more difficult to achieve than others in your own creative practice? How?
I am heartened by the idea that “small is good, small is all.” I hesitate to call what I do a “creative practice,” even though I think that empirically that’s what it is. But the work that I do is sporadic, scattered, and simple. The things that I do feel small. Embracing “small” makes me feel as though I can do work that would fit into something I would call a practice. That it doesn’t have to be daunting, it doesn’t have to be complex, it just has to be, and hopefully be intentional. I am excited to focus on setting intention in order to catalyze small works.
Disrupting socialization and institutionalized power dynamics is life-long work. Audre Lorde, who self-identified as a black lesbian feminist writer and activist, wrote: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” I am reminded of this in regard to your practice. Perhaps you are sublimating the construct of what constitutes “real” work or a validated practice as you find your way to “small.”