The artist as a creative
Category: Art
Feeling like an artist is something you do not choose, but rather something you feel, something you
are born with. It is like an inside knowing, you carry with you in life, whether you choose to act on it
or choose to tame that inner voice is definitely up to you. I read several times that “art is not for the
faint hearted,” I couldn’t really understand until I embraced the artist inside me fully and boy
the courage that this asked me was scary. There is a saying that goes like, “Everything worth
fighting for, is worth having,” I really love this saying and applied it in my life various times.
When I was kid, I Knew I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, but I tamed that voice for a
long time or when I was listening to it, I was not going fully into the role or rather really embodying
what I felt deep inside. It is only after being 30 years old, something happened deep down inside
my heart, I felt like things needed to change, I had to embrace my authenticity and take space,
I was not doing good to anyone my dimming my light and making myself small. That’s where my
journey as an artist really started…
I always thought to myself, that an artist before they go to their studio to make art, they have to go
out there in the world to live, to fully experience life, to feel the palette of human emotions, only
and only then they shall be able to make art that touches other human beings. We need substance,
material to work with as an artists and one of the most essential ingredients is feelings! And so I left my
comfortable life and set for adventures… I left my country, my beautiful island, my people, my culture
and laid down my one suitcase in Spain, Barcelona. I went back to art school to make that childhood
dream of mine come true. And there I learned to dive inside of me, to create art from
a space of vulnerability, to create art that touches and not just being beautiful for the eyes… To create
art that questions, challenges, open conversations…Art that disturbs the status quo. And it felt right &
I felt right, even though I was being stripped like an onion, peeled layers after layers, facing my
darkness, my shadows, my vulnerability and boy did it hurt… I cried, I broke open and little by little
bloomed into a new becoming… A becoming that felt more authentic. Here I was not hiding, here I
was breaking open, shinning light and love on what I was once hiding… I started a healing
journey. I was lucky to be accompanied by beautiful humans in the process of this unfolding.
And so I understood why they said that being an artist is not for the faint hearted. Making a piece
of art and putting it out there for people to judge your art, you, your story, is not an easy thing to do.
But we still show up and do it everyday, because we know as artists that there are people out there who
need our art.
Art has also been a balm to my aching heart in moments of heart breaks, where I
would lock myself in the studio from the mornings until late evenings, using my brush strokes to
express the love I couldn’t express, or the anger that I felt… There is another quote that I love
that goes like “The artist is an alchemist that transforms pain into beauty,” and this hit me
hard. The world would have been such a better place if only people would use art to express
their unexpressed feelings. I believe in the healing power of art. I am a walking proof of it and I know
a lot of people who did it too. The journey of becoming is an ongoing process just as the journey
of unfolding as an artist. We are forever students…of life…
Following my curiosity often lead me to great ideas and to break throughs in my creative process.
Artists are very curious beings, we need freedom and enough time to play. Play in this modern time is
seen as an act of rebellion. While the society wants to force us in a box to fit neatly on their shelves, we
stand in our power being like fuck your system, we dare to choose a life that feels authentic to us and
to our hearts. The soul whispers, the body acts… A writing that is still under process, but I just felt like
sharing these words from my life, from my heart here.
Djemilla
Wednesday 21st May
