Being an artist is kind of a new thing for me. I’ve been making art since I was a child and I studied it at university, but I only started doing it professionally since around April 2021 and I’m still figuring out my path, who I am as an artist, how to find the intersection between what makes me come alive and what the world needs from me.
So far I’ve been mostly focusing on doing commissions or volunteer work for projects I love and believe in, and vibetraits. Vibetraits are portraits of people – but of their vibe instead of their face – and it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done in my life. I got to know some really amazing people through the calls, and made some really good friends, and people tell me it’s a deeply healing process for them where they get to be heard and seen in a unique way they can’t get anywhere else.
But I feel like I’m still not where I want to be just yet, and recently I’ve been exploring more of the “How I can contribute to the world?” part of the question. My new project is to make a lot of my art available to use for free under different CC licenses, and eventually shift to operating ~100% within the gift economy, where I create art that’s free to use and people can support me through Patreon if they have the means/will to do so. You can check out what I already have available for use on my Flickr account, feel free to use anything you want: https://flickr.com/photos/194434618@N04/
I want to make art that is beautiful and weird and that inspires people to look within themselves, and that gives people hope and inspires them to imagine the best possible futures for themselves and for all of us as a species and for the whole planet. I am still at the very beginning of this project, but this is where I am aiming to be, and I’m doing a lot of thinking and brainstorming and reflecting on how I can make it come true.
For now, one drawing at a time! And right now I’ll be taking a few weeks off during the holidays where I plan to reflect and get enough distance to process all the work I’ve been doing and thinking about my next steps. When I come back, I want to start connecting with people and putting myself out there more and hopefully Interintellect will be a part of it!