There is that cliche, “dance like no one’s watching.” Have you ever actually tried it?
Have you ever created visual art, knowing you will show it to no one, maybe even destroy it?
Writing in a diary, dancing alone, making private art…this is dialogue with ourselves and our spiritual extension. If you’ve tried it, then perhaps you have come up against the same inhibition I experience. I can’t quite ever feel alone enough, that it is private enough, that I am truly safe to let go. I still hold back.
A deeper level of safety to express comes from letting go of critical voices and “suppose to” thoughts. In her book Point Zero, Michele Cassou wrestles with this level of self expression. Her driving question is “what if it was okay to…” which opens us up to new horizons of creativity and lets us venture into areas that are taboo, but need healing.
In our Facebook group, we discussed this need for privacy, and how, as much as we love them, our families keep us from doing healing creative work with ourselves. One member reminded us that we need a sacred space. The challenge is how to create it.
These past few weeks, I have been struggling to find/make time for my own work. I am investigating how my identity as an artist conflicts with being a public school teacher. When I starting investigating ideas about privacy and exposure, I realized it is not just an issue of my artwork being shown in public. I struggle for privacy right at home.
It can be hard to ask for time for ourselves, especially if we are experiencing resistance and procrastinating. Sacred time and space not being “given” to us by others not only provides us an excuse to not do the work, it also allows us to blame them instead of ourselves. We don’t get to be resentful if we do’t assert ourselves to meet our needs. We must take responsibility for making our artistic development and healing one of our main priorities.
Here is the artwork I created during my investigation of Privacy/Exposure. I did find my self going off topic!
