Making The Impossible Real (part two)
What’s in the way?
This is a part of a series exploring how we might start to make real the things we desire—personally and collectively—but deem “impossible.” If you’re just joining, read about the background of this series here and here and the first exploration here.
Last time, we talked about the importance of specifically naming the “impossible” things we’re trying to achieve.
Today, we’re naming the obstacles. Because if we don’t know what they are they’ll silently sabotage our progress.
To specifically name an obstacle, context matters. So:
What gets in the way of Artists prioritizing our art and creativity?
And as a ripple effect: what prevents us from doing our part in collective change—inspiring and making the impossible seem possible?
In my personal context as an under-resourced artist living in the United States, I’m naming the Commodification of Everything as one big obstacle. It manufactures scarcity and then tells us we're individually responsible for fixing it.
Our basic survival needs: food, water, shelter, and community, are all sold for profit—in a society where it’s perfectly legal to pay someone significantly less than the cost of living. And if you can’t work, you have to jump through hoops to prove it…
To access the things we need and want we turn ourselves and our creativity into commodities to be bought and sold.
Even our personal agency is equated with ‘having money’ in marketing messages of Good people with money will change the world. I’m not saying money can’t be a tool for change, but implicit in this message is that if you don’t have enough money, you don’t have enough (or any) power, so the best course of action is to go get money.
As artists, we want to shake up the status quo, but the Archetype of The Starving Artist is etched on our bodies.
All of this puts pressure on artists to stay compliant with a status quo that crushes our imagination. Squeezes us into palatable, profitable, productive boxes. Keeps us small while telling us it’s on us to “stop playing small.”
So we—understandably—deprioritize our art and creativity. Next time, we’ll explore how to navigate this suffocating scenario. For today, I’m curious….
What are you hearing in this?
What else gets in the way of you prioritizing your art and creativity? Of allowing yourself to dream?