The reason why human beings find the need to create is because we were first created. My hope is that every image I make will be a collaboration between the human and the divine.
Andre Gide once said that “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”
My first encounter with art was perhaps through the paintings that my father did. He was really good at drawing and painting and it was he who taught me how to draw and color.
I daydreamed a lot as a child and even made and played my own games.
I also wanted to be in a gang because I thought it would make me look cool. Quite silly really. I am glad that did not happen.
The process of creation is very self-absorbed. After all, you are trying to create a world in your own mind and it can be very draining after a while. You get frustrated and depressed.
Exercise relaxes the mind. Energy is being transferred from the mind to the body, so it definitely is a big part of the process. I don’t really like the word process but I can’t think of anything else.
Prayer on the other hand is something I do because I really do think that it is during prayer that the seeds of creativity are planted. I know it sounds like esoteric nonsense, but it has really worked for me.
Actually, I am happy most of the time. Not deliriously of course, but I am quite happy.
Occasionally I feel slightly lonely but these phases come and go. Maybe I was really, really happy when I was in college. I remember my time there very fondly. I was doing well in school and I was in love. It was really nice.
There were parties to go to every weekend. I didn’t find myself wondering what I ought to do with my life. I was in the midst of a tried and proven track, doing my A Levels as any good student would.
When I discovered a passion for photography, things naturally became more complicated. Not that I became less happy but I realized that I wanted more than just “cheap” happiness.
I wanted purpose and I wanted to doggedly pursue a passion. These things require a certain amount of sacrifice.
Sacrifice and suffering isn’t exclusive to just artists. I think anybody who loves something and desperately wants to be good at it will go through some pain and suffering.
It is never all pain. Maybe it is painful at the start to make good works, but after a while the ideas and visions start to take shape. There is joy to be had. Life is not so one-dimensional.
I look up to people who have made a lasting impact on the realms to which they have been called; people who are not necessarily famous, but very important.
