WORTH

A note I wrote down for myself:

Can you believe that you are worthy of creating, even if no one asked you to?

Capitalism wants you to believe that worth and money are the same and that if no one buys it, no one wants it and therefore it is worthless. Don’t listen to capitalism.

I’ve needed a lot of pep-talks this year, mostly in the form of books, but also newsletters and actual peptalks. Not because I want to quit, but because I emphatically DO NOT want to quit.

God, it is hard to write this. Making art – portraits, prints, photos that no one asked for – for money is the hardest, least successful according to capitalism, work I’ve ever done.

It wasn’t hard to make art for money within an already existing industry – I’ve given my soul to the wedding industrial complex and the real estate industrial complex in the past. And there is no shame in doing this, because sometimes it’s what has to be done. I honor the parts of myself that have done the work needed to survive.

But the work that no one asks for? That’s where it’s easy to start believing that it doesn’t matter. Anxiety says that if I am or want to be a (real) photographer, I have to create what sells.

Capitalism requires that if it doesn’t sell, it’s time to move on. And, I can’t leave, I can’t abandon this work, just because it doesn’t sell. I believe it has worth, even if the value isn’t monetary. It is vital to my soul.

I believe in the importance of seeing art with non-objectified female bodies of all shapes, sizes, and colors, of making art as a practice of healing with your own body. I believe in the necessity of holistic, human-centered approaches to business and selling. And I believe that we all deserve to be surrounded by art and spaces that bring us joy and help us be grounded. 

To the ones who are out there, making the truest work, the work that comes from the places of self-discovery and courage, but isn’t selling, I see you. And we are all worthy of creating what we are called to create, even if no one asked for it.