I seem to be feeling rather sorry for myself of late. I can’t seem to get my creative photo mojo going and I am therefore becoming more annoyed at myself. What I do need to do is give myself a break. I’m not in the luxurious position of having the freedom to create when the urge takes me, instead, like many others, I’m curtailed to fit my creativity in around other life needs.
Sometime this makes me resentful; I hyper focus on what feels like time slipping away, I think I’m missing out. I’ve always found social media a wonderful means of learning about other artists, and I am truly honoured to have ‘met’ so many for the Photopocene podcast. But I think it’s coming to a time to take a break from what others are doing and concentrate on what I am doing.
One way I’ll be doing this is through the Part of the Patchwork series, which considers our ‘allotted' space, land access rights and the human impact on our natural resources such as soil and water through the prism of a North Cornwall allotment site.
Started in 2020, I have recently been considering the artistic content of this series, with a mind to evolve how I produce the work. Initially, I had planned to combine black and white portraits of allotment holders recreated with the anthotype process with unfixed/hybrid lumens of objects of meaning to them to represent the bond we have with the land beneath our feet. But now, I am of a mind to look to the soil from each individual patch to recreate the portraits. To form this bond from the soil which underpins what can be grown to them as the growers. There are plenty of ideas bouncing around and it has to feel right but at least I’m not totally bereft of my photo mojo.
I’m catching up with my artist ‘buddy’ this week. Established via CAMP, this is a chance to connect with an artist from across Devon or Cornwall as a means to share ideas, and chat about life and any artistic challenges. It’s not about being a mentor or any other demands so I’m hopeful it will provide a new take on my creative life. It can sometimes seem isolating when working on your own practice, even though I’m probably more of a loner than a social butterfly, and I’m looking forward to a no-pressure experience and hopefully building a new art-related relationship.
How do you cope when you get into a creative slump? Be lovely to hear your thoughts.