25.10.23 | Your art has a future: Professional Practice Talk with Ian Monroe
The talk with Ian Monroe was already inspiring from the title, "your art has a future". As an artist, there were a lot of times when I felt insecure about my practice and my career path, worried if I was doing something wrong or going into a direction that I didn't particularly desire. Even in the hard moments, there was an old quote that has always stuck with me: "rejection is redirection". For me, this talk represented the core of this idea.
"There isn't one pathway (...) what whould be a good path for me?" was one of the things that marked me deeply. As someone that can get anxious when thinking that things are out of control, becoming aware and conscious that there is no right or wrong when choosing the way to build my career - indeed, that it actually exists a range of possible paths - brought me a soothing feeling.
Another point that was so important was when the lecturer stated that we should not forget about personal goals, and that is important to change "modes" (from personal, to artistic, to professional) when one of them gets a bit frustrating. Before that, I couldn't stop feeling guilty when focusing on personal aspects of my life. It felt like I was diverting from my professional goals.
However, to hear someone else from the same field saying how essential it is not to forget about these other aspects made me feel very secure about doing it and look at myself in a more humanized way. We were also given a lot of resources of websites and career tips, which I'm so grateful for. What a short but enriching exchange.