"How to become an artist by night" Reading Response
Reading this text made me really frustrated and hopeless. But it's because it voices most of the concerns I have with the profession of being an artist/creative, or whatever that means in the "market" these days.
Leaving home to live abroad alone, paying a lot of stuff, just to change careers and dedicate my life to art, is not something easy to do, and less when the environment and personal circumstances around you don't seem to be in your favour. Still, I have decided to jump in. I must really love it a lot, huh.
But how much is enough to really sacrifice a lot of financial commodities, stability and, especially, mental health costs?
A circumstance which I've seen a lot of young, migrant artists and creatives being in, is trying to enter the job market while trying to be successful artists. Some of us even try to combine both interests and products into one, to try to be more efficient, lessen the labour, and not lose our minds in the process.
That's what Raqs Media Collective calls "the culture industry":
" Contemporary art can also be a refuge from the relentless pressures of the culture industry. But it is the kind of refuge that makes no bones about the fact that it is also a secret internal exile. The young artist, who often begins professional life as an intern in the corporate setting of the culture industry, usually finds himself or herself in a simultaneous condition of internment within contemporary art." (p. 73)
This area between fine arts and corporate, industrial and, in my own words, capital "C" Commercial Arts, is very prevalent in Toronto, as per my very recent and little experience in the arts scene in the city. This text really made me wonder; if Toronto is a very prominent (multi)cultural epicentre of the world, city with (supposedly) lots of funding to the culture and arts, as it is its trademark, and artists and creatives are starving and struggling to make ends meet, where are artists and creatives safe and sound to produce their works and thrive in their practice?
Of course, circumstances don't exist in a vacuum, and the city socioeconomical landscape, as well as positionally, one's status in this country matters and influences many of one's opportunities, especially the network one has as a newcomer, all of that counts toward who is doing better in the arts professional area.
But the artist finds themself in a trade-off situation between doing what they're passionate about or having a stable financial life, and basically surviving in a capitalistic, consumerist society. And historically it has been that way, mostly. ESPECIALLY, when we have mostly seen examples of White Men thriving in the capital "A" arts.
This reading reflection hardly has positive and hopeful insights because it is a worry I face daily in my mind, trying to survive in a big city of Arts & Culture, without burning out or breaking down. This is something most of us, art students, especially newcomers and migrants, relate to.
I think the greatest thing I have found in the pursuit of emerging as an artist in a foreign environment and circumstances has been surrounding myself of a large community, filled with collectives, social groups, close-knit friendships and relationships, of artists with similar life experiences and social positionality. Creating a safe space and a strong connection with other artists in the same situation has allowed me to feel and be significantly supported and create a network from zero.
Although the social aspect can be daunting, intimidating and very exhausting, it is possible and essential to find good people in the scene, and hopefully find great opportunities for collaboration and rewarding, meaningful projects that serve the purpose which we have had since we started to dream about creating and doing art.
Comments
Post a Comment