The Art in Being Yourself
It’s all about perception
Sometimes the smallest moments in life serve as reminders that core values truly matter. Such has been the case for me over the past few days.
The first moment involved a portion of my work being questioned, with a fellow photographer conveying an opinion that it fell “outside of what can be thought of as traditional ICM work”. After further discussion, it became clear that both the methods used to capture the images and their visual style were completely unfamiliar to the person, leaving them unsure what to make of the results.
Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. As ICM photography continues to expand, photographers are constantly exploring fresh approaches and new ways of expressing movement and form.
What could easily have been viewed as a negative experience, I instead chose to see differently. To me, their opinion says less about the quality of the work and more about how we can be prone to interpret art through the boundaries of our own expectations.
In truth, I take it as something of a compliment - an acknowledgement that the work is perceived as different. We should be careful not to question the authenticity of art simply because it exists outside our own understanding or experience.
Creativity depends on pushing beyond familiar boundaries while remaining open to new approaches and ideas.
Embrace your uniqueness
This brings me to the second moment of the week. An event was being held in a school meeting room, and I noticed the following words scrawled on an adjacent whiteboard:
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — Oscar Wilde
It reinforced for me the idea that success comes from being true to yourself - from being willing to be vulnerable and express your individuality through your work. Whether others like what you produce becomes secondary; what truly matters is that the work honestly and consistently reflects who you are.
I have struggled with this personally in the past, even removing popular works because they failed the “is this me?” test. I am far happier producing work that I genuinely enjoy making and viewing than I ever was creating to the perceived tastes of others.
Final Words
I have said many times before that the only person you truly need to satisfy with your work is yourself, but it feels like a message worth repeating at times when others may not see the world in the same way that you do. Continue working within boundaries of your own choosing, while accepting that others may define theirs far more tightly.
Our work should not be shaped by perceptions of what others think, and we should never be afraid of being seen as different. After all, history is filled with artists whose work confused sections of their audiences. Some eventually became accepted, many did not, but all remained true to their principles.
Whether people enjoy my work or not, I am content knowing that reactions like this identify the work as sitting outside expected boundaries - and if that reflects a willingness to explore differently, then I’m happy, in some small way, to follow that tradition.