Sharing your art can be scary. Being an artist, we can get down on ourselves, sometimes we feel like our work isn’t “good enough”, sometimes we’re in a creative block, sometimes it seems as if it’s impossible to rearrange these letters to create a combination that hasn’t already been made, impossible to snap a photo or to paint or to design without it feeling like it’s been done before.
We must remember that the universe is constantly continuously unfolding, creating completely uniquely new moments every second. So in that photo you snapped, the clouds will never be placed the same again. In that poem you scratched into your journal your emotions told you to piece those symbols, this language, together in that very specific way to express what you were feeling in that very moment. Pay attention to the mundane things around you – it’s all inspiration. Feel this world happening, you’ll never feel these emotions and thoughts this exact same way again. Every moment is unique in this eternally shifting expression of existence. Understand life as an art project. The way you open your eyes in the morning to a slightly aching back from sleeping in a weird position. The way the flowers move with the slight breezes in wind. The way the pen’s ink glides across your journal’s crinkled pages. The way the music from next door sounds, muffled, flowing through your window. The way you choose to pair those mismatched socks with that oversized sweater.
We are always co-creating and collaborating, with all else in existence. There’s no need to ever compare yourself to anyone else or to anyone else’s work or accomplishments. We are all meant to be different, diverse, there is no one set plan for everyone to follow. As artists, comparisons are useless. We are all meant to inspire each other with our own unique creations. We are meant to go through phases of growth, struggling to accept our own work, constantly experimenting, constantly improving, finding inspiration in both success and failure. Being an artist has no rules. There are no limits. Art is supposed to open doors to new perceptions, to create spaces for vulnerable conversations. We have a profound ability to inspire each other by sharing our work, and fear should never stop us.
Photo and words by Juliana Tattoli