There have been a lot of emotions this week following the horrific election results in the U.K. We are a nation under the right wing. I flit between sad, angry and optimistic. Hopeful that the good eggs amongst us can fix it. That we can see each other through and help our friends and neighbours in the meantime. That we can pull together to support the vulnerable people our government has forgotten.
What has this got to do with art?
Politics, outrage and passion are always going to inspire art. What I am focusing on more is how this result has affected my own approach to my own art. It has forced me to accept that I feel am at a moral bypass with the majority of my voting countryman. It has forced me to accept that no matter how crucial a government can be in the difference between life and death for vulnerable people, there will still be many folk who don’t even get up to vote. I am forced me to accept that I am in a minority, at a complete impass with many of those around me.
So what has it got to do with YOUR art Sian?
I have always felt a conflict within myself when it comes to my art. Between the ultimately alternative work that I especially enjoy to draw, and the mainstream stuff that tends to have a more mass appeal. I have felt the need to defend my art from people who find it strange that someone wants to draw ghosts all year long. I have often felt a societal pressure to ‘be more normal’. This election has redefined what normality is in the U.K. It has taught me that I don’t really want to be it after all.
Weirdos 4 lyf!
Now this isn’t all down to the election. Growing support for my spooky pieces over the last year has been hurtling me towards this point also. The election results just cement it. It doesn’t mean all my work will be spooky and weird, but it means I will have the confidence to promote more obscure work more proudly. I can’t maintain my business on only proving super niche creepy illustrations, but I can allow myself to explore that art freely. What I can do is I can allow myself to be proud of it. I can enjoy that I am different, because after brexit and the tories, who wants to be like the Great British public these days anyway?