I’ve been thinking a lot about community and the sense of belonging that goes hand in hand with it since last writing this blog. Globally of course community is at the forefront of many people’s consciousness – whether it’s in Egypt, Syria, Occupy Wall Street or closer to home at the protest camp outside St Paul’s – we’ve witnessed the strength that can be gained through people coming together in solidarity.
Life often has a habit of acting out the very issues that are on one’s mind I think; in this respect, the past 24 hours have been a sharp reminder of just how important community is to me.
The school term finished yesterday and my sons invited their friends home, anxious all of them, to spend another few hours together before going their separate ways. I was struck by their closeness and the supportive community my children have grown up in; teenagers now, they’ve known many of their peers since nursery school days.
With the film The Iron Lady being talked about so much at the moment, my thoughts have also (unfortunately) been turning to community in relation to Thatcher and that infamous quote of hers: ‘there is no such thing as society.’ Her words still manage to arouse as much anger and outrage in me as they did all those years ago – a despicable and alienating comment, it came as a powerful statement and a blatant attack against community and everything it stood for.
But, still closer to home, a comment I received on Artists Talking yesterday from Rita Cormo also felt timely. It came as a response to a message I’d left on Building Materials, Rita’s first post on a new blog…
I really enjoyed reading it and there were some fantastic images of her work alongside her writing. In the spirit of sharing, I wanted to let her know that.
I loved her response – honest and real – in which Rita wrote about ‘sincerely … preparing for a long and enduring winter with no comments at all.’ Not because she thought that what she had to say and show couldn’t ‘be interesting’ but because ‘I saw very interesting blogs with no comments at all’. Rita goes on to to say how glad she is that she’s not posting into a void and that ‘hopefully this would enhance her will to proceed!’
I’ve checked with her and Rita feels fine about me quoting her. I wanted to because I can relate so strongly to what she’s saying; her sentiments sum up perfectly for me the basic need for supportive communities; groups of people sharing common values and goals, reaching out to each other. I’m conscious of it because for a long time during my foray into the art world, I was without it. And while I was acutely aware that something was missing, I couldn’t ever seem to put my finger on what it was.
I spoke about it in my last blog but more recently I’ve felt it more strongly than ever: there’s a vulnerability within all of us, a deep desire to be accepted – to be heard, to feel needed and to feel included. Encouragement and empathetic understanding from like-minded artists is invaluable; it’s what all of us at some point or other crave and need in order to flourish as creative people.
And so, as I’ve gravitated towards artists who – whether through their website, their blog, their tweets or simply through their presence – have been happy to share a little of themselves, my contacts and support systems have grown. These artists have also invariably been generous, not just in sharing their own work but also in contributing their thoughts and offering support to others – a shining example of this is the ever-generous Rosalind Davis…
It’s apparent too on Artists Talking where shared values and emotional connections have been formed and are maintained through ongoing, online dialogue.
Not having a studio has enabled me to stand back a bit, to reflect and to think about what’s important in terms of moving forward – Keeping It Together. Things are definitely looking up.
