I was just rereading Rob Turners wonderful post about rejection letters
(see post no 28)
I want to submit this one for the prize of ‘rejection letter most likely to be received with cheers’
‘Thank you for your submission for the xxxxxxx commission. We very much liked your work, but felt that there would be other areas of the xxxxx where your work would have more impact and we would like to retain your information for future commissions.’
Hurray!
Is self belief the only thing an artist really needs?
Two days to go to the Rogue Open Studio where I’m showing some new work in Jackie Wylie’s studio, in a group show called ‘All cats look grey in the dark’
I’ve been feeling pretty ambivalent about telling people about the work, and inviting them to the show. It’s my first new work since I graduated, and the first time I’ve had to develop work without the support of tutors and peers. It’s been hard to assess whether it works, without that regular feedback.
But today I realised today that I need to really believe in the work, I need to champion it and feel proud of it. I need to be like a proud parent of my work, and see it through eyes of love and appreciation. Otherwise my work will become tentative and apologetic, and I will grind to a halt, which is the last thing I want.
I came to this realisation because I’ve been asked to do a residency next year, and I will probably need to get a team of helpers together. I was thinking about how that would be and how I would need to really sell the project to them, even if I have my own worries and insecurities, because I will need their enthusiasm and commitment, and to generate it in them, I will need to embody it myself.
So I need to cultivate that attitude with all of my work. As artists we are always asking people to trust us, that the work will get done, will be relevant, will be interesting, and an insecure attitude by the maker will not help. I’m not saying that a massive ego is a prerequisite to success, but that having confidence is important, to challenge the interior critic that I have, and I’m sure everyone has to some extent.
I’m going to try and see it as a discipline to practice – like believing 10 impossible thing before breakfast, I’m going to practice thinking positive thoughts about my work and see what happens.
My work is grounded in presence and absence. I unearth the hidden and forgotten and look for traces of human stories in particular places. My recent practice has focused on the history of Manchester and the social impact of urbanisation. I work in a variety of media, most recently film, textiles, painting and site specific work.
