22.11.23 | Thriving and shining as an artist: Professional Toolkit Talk with Rosalind Davis
"I'm still trying to figure things out". To hear this from someone who's been in the field of arts for a longer time than me makes me feel embraced. I don't have to have all figured out yet - perhaps I'll never be able to. "Everything that you do, you do for a reason, even when you don't know what it is". Perhaps some things become clearer with time. Rosalind Davis' talk was an overflow of sincerity and comfort, but also an enriching source of resources and ideas for us to establish ourselves in our practices and careers.
"Your idea of success is yours, what does success mean inside of you?". "Why make art?". "Why exhibit?". To be presented with such straightforward questions makes me reflect deeply on what I'm doing and what's important to me. In this huge world, with so much happening, what am I doing and why am I doing? To stop and reflect on these questions can strongly change perspectives. And this is something I'm deeply interested in: to approach the world in a different way.
Even though it may seem difficult to answer the questions in a first glance, and even though it feels that the answers may vary depending on the period they appear, I feel like "connection" is a starting point. An idea of success: being able to connect with people. A reason to make art: to connect with people. A reason to exhibit: to connect with people. It may appear a shallow sentence, but hearing from Rosalind Davis how important is the presence of connection with others throughout an artist's career, I think it's possible to agree that this is an essential part of everything - including life itself.