It’s Healthy and Human to Be Creative
I am so grateful for the Creativity Gather-in that Sue Pedley led and Grey Williams organised in Sydney (New South Wales, Australia).
Before it, I had jotted down all the qualities I liked most about myself: creativity, adventurousness, energy, inventiveness, imagination, curiosity, enthusiasm, a sense of humor, inquisitiveness, wanting to be engaged and connected. And guess what? They were all the qualities that were squashed when I was a child! Where did all that energy go? Into digestive problems; lack of confidence; grief; depression; anxiety; and, in later life, chronic gut problems, pain, and fatigue. Is it any wonder?
Creating art—in some form, be it decorating our environment, making gifts, or cooking—defines us as humans. So if we don’t do it, do we become ill?
Capitalism has prostituted and hijacked art. It has created the lie that art is only good or worth doing if it’s a saleable commodity. It has told us that making it has to be a lonely activity in a garret. But let’s not be confused. Making art can be (as it was for millennia) social, and it’s never too late to start. Artists’ liberation is for everyone, because it’s healthy and human to be creative.
Woy Woy, New South Wales, Australia
(Present Time 191, April 2018)