creativity is an act of rebellion
As we catapult into a new year + decade, it is seemingly a whole new ball game altogether. The rules, as if overnight, appear to have ruthlessly changed - the consequences to our fuck-ups more dire + foul than ever. While many partied into the new year, it is safe to say that this year, many did not.
I’ve had little to share. Though drowning in an ocean of thoughts + words, I have felt to keep them close. The world seemed at capacity with desperate, angry, sad words and I carried few joyful ones. Thus, I began a process of internalizing my writing, tortured-artist style. The words fell like much-needed rain onto the page, only to be clamped shut within journal walls, tucked away for another day.
Like others, I search for sense + meaning in this mess. Much of my energy + time has been spent searching the corners of media + dialogue for answers or good news. An antidote - a hint of a revolution, a rebellion or some god damn rain. Superman ffs. SOMETHING. But it would appear… that we are the ones we have been waiting for.
Amidst the sour times, I write like a motherfucker.
A part of me – the conditioned, small part of me – would have me believe that in poignant times such as these, that my stories do not matter. That they are insignificant or inappropriate. But the truth is, that when life is dire; when our hearts are punctured + when the unknown engulfs us like a murky moat...our creativity counts more than ever.
Collectively, we have been put through the wringer. Our people, our animals, our land are suffering. We currently reside in a pause: watching, inhaling, gathering before we make our next move. We live in the inward breath and for much of the western world, it is uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
But know this: In times of such great despair + uncertainty - creativity is an act of rebellion.
Creating counters destruction. It flips it the bird🖕🏾and says FUCK YOU I WON’T DO YOU WHAT YOU TELL ME. I will not dwindle, fade or die🌱There is something ripe + green + unannounced in me yet and y’all gonna get a taste of it whether you like it or not.
We have been told for far too long that our creativity holds little value - that it is not a “real” career, that it is self-indulgent, useless, a path of suffering + scarily unpredictable. But whoever wrote that boring memo forgot to tell us that it is actually OUR PURPOSE in life. Because if you want to know a world without creativity + art + mess + colour, then go and read George Orwell dammit. I did not sign up for that grey, bleak, controlled bullshit.
Creativity opens up our minds and hearts, therapizing us + dosing us with healthy curiosity and a broader perspective. It makes the world digestible. It makes us less prone to ignorance + idiocy. Creativity alchemises our pain into powerful, beautiful stand-alone art. It is regeneration, renewal + rebellion and right now, it is exactly what the world needs🌍
So please🙏
Write, sing, strum, sculpt, make films + jokes + cakes + garden beds. Plant seeds + trees. Weave + sew + knit. Launch projects, birth ideas. Make hemp soaps + mulberry pies. Write scripts + poems. Build, design + take your photographs, because the world needs it more than ever right now. Create purely for the joy of it. And when you are done, be brave enough to push your work into the world because I promise you, there is at least one person out there who needs it right now.
It is a royal shit show out there, but the patriarchy is crumbling✊🏾Its beneficiaries have a big-ass spotlight being shone on their toupees right now and I assure you, they are nervous.
I don’t know about you, but I’m in this for the long haul. I’m not going down without a fight. We have all seen enough pain + destruction and my kids are way too feral to adhere to a dictatorship. There are seven billion of us here on this planet, each brimming with creative potential – let’s make shit + turn this thing on its head.
❤️
#heartcraft #creativity #creativityrebellion #byronbay #creativewriting#arttherapy