art is for sharing
I’ve had some conversations with friends lately in which I’ve tried to explain why I feel a need to put my photographs and my writing ‘out there’, and why I get discouraged when there’s no subsequent response or interaction with people who’ve read or seen them.
Their reaction is to tell me – usually fairly vehemently – that it shouldn’t bother me, I should take pictures purely for myself, I shouldn’t care whether anyone else likes them or not, and so forth. There’s quite a bit of truth in this, and for a while it made me question my own motives – am I really so insecure that I need some kind of ‘applause’? Perhaps I am, I thought. And then I thought, but I don’t give much significance to getting ‘likes’ on Instagram or Facebook, and have long realised it’s all a big popularity game with no substance. Obviously I’d rather have likes than no response, but it doesn’t mean a whole lot to me.
What it means to me, I suddenly realised, is that someone has looked at them. Or if it’s a comment on a blog post or article, that someone has read it. And what I most want, it came to me, is to share what I’ve done with other people. If something really good happens to me, my first reaction is usually to get on the phone to a friend or to Geoff to tell them all about it. I have a strong urge to share it with someone else. So when I take a shot that I’m pleased with, I want to say the equivalent of ‘Look! Look what I saw!’ A joy shared is a joy doubled for me, and I always hope that it works the other way round too, just as I get happy when I hear some good news from a friend. And a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved, if that’s the way it’s worked out.
It also seems to me that creativity is a lot about communicating. All artists with integrity do the work for themselves and their own fulfilment, but if they chose to keep it to themselves then the world would be deprived of a lot of pleasure, insight, and satisfaction. A lot of issues wouldn’t be raised, or beauty made available. A lot of great art would have been lost to the world. If Vivian Maier’s photographs hadn’t been discovered in a storage locker, wouldn’t the world have been deprived of something valuable?
Art is a kind of communication – yes, there is a point in writing for one’s own satisfaction only, but if you have something to say then wouldn’t you like to open it up to conversation? Make it available to others? There is a point in taking photos purely for your own pleasure, but isn’t looking at other people’s photography and sharing your own with them part of what makes it good? For me, it would be like living my life without ever talking to anyone.
But I can hear a whisper in the background – a lot of art is banal, derivative, awful, crude. There’s no denying this, but whatever sort of art it is, it still gives pleasure to a lot of people. You may think they have terrible taste, but this kind of art serves them, just as your kind of art serves you, and you can choose not to engage with what doesn’t work for you. And who’s to tell, in the moment, what’s good and what’s bad? Van Gogh was derided for his ‘amateurish’ work in his day, and Monet, Duchamp, Turner, El Greco, and a host of others were severely criticised and not taken seriously in their lifetimes. There are always diamonds to be found in the dross, but no dross, no diamonds.
On that note, I offer you some beach huts, taken last year in a wintry North Berwick, near Edinburgh. I hope you like them, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t – I’m just pleased that I’m able to share my moment of seeing with you.
September 26, 2018 @ 11:03 am
Hello Gilly,
Long-time no speak, I hope this finds you well.
I enjoy reading your articles and admire your work. You inspire me. Thank you for sharing.
Lynn x
September 29, 2018 @ 2:35 pm
Hello Lynn,
It really has been a long time – lovely to hear from you, and thank you so much for your kind comments. I wasn’t sure if there was still anyone left reading this! I’ve not had any urge to write in my blog for such a long time, but I’m hoping that might be changing.
Hope things are good with you,
Gilly x
September 29, 2018 @ 9:35 pm
Thanks for this Gilly – I’m one of the often-silent ones! I enjoy seeing your photos. I’m not a user of social media so I’m not in the habit of just saying ‘Like’ to any number of things, and in general I’m no fan of ‘below-the-line’ discussions. If there’s something specific that strikes me about an image, I will comment on that specific thing, or perhaps email you off-site . . . but more often, I’ve enjoyed looking at something (does your blogsite at least count for you the number of people who click through?) and that’s it – it’s a visual experience not a verbal one, so I don’t post just to say: nice photo.
So sorry if this feels unsatisfactory at your end . . .
Pam x
October 5, 2018 @ 9:35 am
Thanks for this, Pam, especially in light of how you feel about it! One of the things I like best is to get some private, off-site communication from someone, or better still, to interact face to face. However, in the absence of this – and there is an absence of it for me – online feels better than nothing. Personally I’d much prefer to have my in-depth conversations out of the public eye, which is probably a feature of being an introvert. Incidentally, I do get stats on my site, but in general they’re a bit discouraging – the figures aren’t high and those that do visit seem to stay for about three seconds before leaving again!
You final remark has got me thinking – about photos being visual, and therefore what part do or might words have to play here? I shall give that some thought, as it ties in with my other recent blog on the artist’s statement.
Thank you!
Gilly
September 30, 2018 @ 9:21 am
I find I get a sort of emotional indigestion if I don’t do anything with my photographs. It’s very easy not to get round to editing and making something with them, and to spiral down into ‘What’s the point?’ and ‘It’s all self-indulgence’. But photography does bring me joy, and I agree that it’s good to share that. In fact, I think it’s an essential part of the creative process. And I’m inspired by your efforts to share your work here and in exhibitions, etc.
I think in this hypercapitalist culture it’s usual to devalue anything that doesn’t make loads of money; and anything that’s not legitimized by being produced on an industrial scale as part of a brand. And if we’re not very careful, we do this to ourselves: because, of course, we also want to fit in, do as we’re told.
Keep going for it!
October 5, 2018 @ 9:52 am
Hi Jane,
Yes – emotional indigestion describes it well, I think. I’m very prone to feeling ‘what’s the point?’ but it’s a slippery slope to doing nothing at all unless you can justify it in some way. And in the hypercapitalist culture you describe, it does feel self-indulgent at times to pursue something of which the point lies purely in satisfying the creative part of ourselves. You and I and lots of others know just how important this is, more important than any amount of money, but our culture doesn’t subscribe to the same values.
I wrote this mostly as a reaction to feeling that I was in some way wrong to have it matter that I care about sharing my work and having some interaction around it. We’re all different, and I would never want to put anyone down for having the opposite point of view (and I hope I didn’t imply that in the post) but it feels important to me and I’ve now chosen to stop feeling bad about it. Interestingly, the person that most recently said this to me has a big online presence and exhibits and talks regularly! And frankly, I don’t think she’s as uncaring as she makes herself out to be about other people’s reactions to her work.
Thanks for your encouragement,
Gilly