In my artist statement, I talk about art being my outlet as a highly sensitive individual. From an early age, I felt things so deeply. I can remember going to school and crying from the slightest constructive criticism from a teacher. As I got older, I developed a sense of shame in physically getting upset over what most people would deem insignificant. It made me feel out of place and I developed a mask for my emotions. Experiencing them in my brain and never showing them created a rigged shell- making me appear distant or cold. This was and still is the opposite of the case.
In many ways sharing my art on Instagram became like a toxic relationship that started with love bombing. Daily comments and fire emojis fed my ego and frankly made me feel good-not just about my art but about myself. I hadn’t realized how deep my acceptance wound was until Instagram changed up the algorithm- not showing many smaller artist work if it doesnt feed the instant gratification meter of grabbing attention in the first millisecond. For a long time I wanted to hate Instagram and blame them for majorly hurting my art business. What I didn’t see is what this pitfall created for me. By not relying on the platform to push out my work, I had to get more creative in my approach. I started and art workshop for women that not only helped sell my work but more importantly bond with women and change their lives and mine for the better. If painting and posting my work on Instagram then seeing the numbers go up in my bank account was all I did- I would have been making unispired and unrelatable work
Though getting 3 likes on a post sometimes can really kill an artist mentally, I grew from that. I had to level up my work if it was going to get seen and I really think this made my work even better. Instagram should never have been the entire playbook-and Im thankful for that rug being pulled./ Art is about experience, its about connection and being sensitive and taking off the mask. All instagram does is help build a mask. There are millions of views on videos of people doing fart pranks in the park or toxic relationship tips to get a man obsessed with you. My art isnt intended to immediately please you. Its meant to share a part of my soul with yours. It is forever.