Everyone will tell you to grow your audience. Focus on subscribers. Get bigger. Increase market share. Be for everybody. Be liked. Be loved.
But nothing gives me more pleasure these days than when I notice someone unsubscribe from my email list. Why? Because it means I’m not for everyone. It means I’m forming a point of view. A strong opinion. I’m picking a side. A side that’s not for everyone. It’s exactly what art is supposed to do.
No one expects me to run a marathon if I can’t even run 5km but when it comes to art, do we also need to build muscle?
Should picture book making feel like work? Or should it feel like some utopia where someone pays me for ‘art’?
Perhaps the role of an artist is to render the invisible so we become more attentive to the world as it is?
Can a piece of paper create more connection than a wifi-enabled digital device when it comes to art?
Loss is difficult; we often like what we had more than what we may have. But how do we know unless we make space for the new in our lives?
