⏸ Pause
In the arts, there’s a hustle culture of having to produce something constantly - to stay in the game, to not be forgotten, to not lose out on opportunities. But the thing about socially engaged art is that it can be so exhausting. Not just physically but also emotionally.
On top of bringing together the right stakeholders and having constant meetings to realise a project (our efforts not always appreciated or successful), we burn out moving from one social issue to another equally heavy topic. While holding space for our participants' traumas, projects sometimes bring up our own traumas too. At one point last year, I realised that I'd forgotten the joy of my art practice.
This was a breaking point that forced me to pause.
I then spent this new year giving myself permission to treat my off days as just that, not free time to work on other projects. I visited new places, hiked a lot, hung out with friends and most recently went back into creative crafts and expression.
Pauses are wonderful. In this process, I learned to tread life slowly, to take it easy, to deeply reflect about the kind of life I want to live. I imagine a lifestyle with lots of green spaces, local community connection and lots of fruitful labour, be they environmental restoration work in my backyard or creative imaginative projects.
We talk a lot about economic degrowth but not enough about what that actually means. What if we could change the system by slowing down, working less, being less productive and connecting more with life and nature? In a fast evolving world exposed to many unpredictable shocks - natural disasters, food systems collapse, infectious diseases and more, what if we start living like we could be gone tomorrow? What would you prioritise and how would you live differently?