Naive Pursuits: Becoming an Artist in Precarious Times

the inspiration: Nina Simone

 want to be an artist, but it feels like a pointless and selfish pursuit, as the world burns around all of us. The quality of our lives is dwindling, trust for institutions is decreasing daily, as practicality is becoming blurred, mistaken for corporate efficiency. As the times grow more unprecedented, the tasks that do not seem to be central to long term survival become more scarce and seemingly less practical. Our wallets are shrinking, and our time for joy seems more and more precious and more fleeting that ever before. We seem to have begun to realize that we are losing each other. We are losing each other and we are losing the plot. As the helplessness and hopelessness of this world persists, the urge and want to do art for a living feels naïve and vapid, like I am a child refusing to put their paint brush down when craft time is over, but the child is in their 30s and needs to get a job. Pursuing a childish dream in the midst of the worlds chaos feels strange, but inescapable to me. I feel as though the crumbling world is there not to leave me clinging to familiarity and the known in a time of immense uncertainty but is instead leading me toward something. I feel as though something needs to be said to the world, and I don’t know of any way to say it other than art. I have seen art in my life that has enriched me, changing my entire perspective and growing me into a person who tries to maintain integrity in their growth. Though the art of my youth grew me, the art that has been being made for the last 10 years has largely been remakes and sequels, repurposed and recycled in ways that have not been reflective of the world we currently live in. the entire world uniquely has together all had a reason to need care, reflection and an opportunity to grieve the loss of the last decade. It may be naïve but I do believe that we find ourselves in this uniquely painful position because we have not let ourselves reflect or grieve. We are all lost when we have no way of truly seeing ourselves, and in a sea of chaos it is hard to see anything but the messes we all feel trapped by.

Nina Simone once said that it is an artist’s duty to reflect the times. I believe her, but if this is true, mainstream collective art has been lost or at a standstill for the past decade. Though I consume many beautiful pieces of content, I rarely feel that anything is truly reflective of the world in its current state.

I believe that making and publicizing your art in precarious times only really matters to the wider world around you if you have something to say that will allow the culture to collectively self reflect. Though I am not claiming to be an artist whose creations will be the key to the worlds awakening, there is a part of me that knows that, if I abandon my attempt to make something, I will be abandoning any hope that I have that we live in a world worth saving. So much of the content I see seems resigned to a nihilistic hopelessness like there is nothing left on earth to love or care for. Like shaming is the main vehicle for communication and art creation is there purely for gaining aesthetic clout and aura-far

ming. This point-of-view is only seemingly contrasted by content that my parent share with me, content that refuses to accept that anything has changed since 2007, filled with an optimistic lack of self reflection and a belief that my lack of hope stems from a lack of work ethic.

These contrasting points-of-view show me how much we are losing each other daily. My hope and my naïve belief is that hopefully, if someone does not give up on art and does not give up on hope, maybe something can be created for as all to reflect upon, and see the spaces where we all still have power to create a world worth saving, a world worthy of reflecting upon, and something for us all to hope for together. We lose so much when we lose each other. I just hope that there is still that space somewhere for us to share something and build collective care without abandoning ourselves, our dreams, and the world we all share.