Hello my name is Bun. If I don't take photos I'll die. Ask me about my favourite parasite.

 

🏳‍🌈I'm armed with the past and the will and a brick🏳️‍⚧️

 

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pastellexists
@pastellexists

when it comes to art, with little utilitarian value in the traditional sense, i think we care far too much about nouns.

you don't have to be a dancer to dance
you don't have to be a singer to sing
you don't have to be a writer to write
you don't have to be an artist to draw

importantly,
dancing doesn't mean you have to be a dancer
singing doesn't mean you have to be a singer
writing doesn't mean you have to be a writer
drawing doesn't mean you have to be an artist

do stuff. it doesn't have to be part of your identity, you don't have to be good at it, it doesn't matter.

i am not a visual artist, but i spent my evening drawing portraits of my friends to relax, and i'm glad i did. it made me happy, it made my friends happy, and i am not magically now a visual artist who must assume all the formalities of such a station.

draw your friends. dance in your room. sing your heart out. write a copost about how artistic identity is not a prerequisite for artistic action.

but maybe do learn a few things first if you want to build an extension to your house. there's probably a good reason there are licenses for carpentry and not painting.


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in reply to @pastellexists's post:

Well put. Sometimes I say "identity is a scam" and this is the kind of thing I mean. I've seen tons of people talk themselves out of doing so many cool things with something like "O I'm not the sort of person who _____", or even talk others out of it.

Maybe it's because our frame of reference is dominated by fictional characters who have a clear, often planned, narrative arc that defines their life? Or famous people who have a narrative identity constructed by the combination of a very narrow window in which to see their life and, you know, a lot of deliberate marketing, PR, etc? Maybe it's because we feel constantly examined by others?

I don't even know if this is a new thing, but it does seem like recent socio-technological developments have to be contributing to it getting worse. A deep, fearful social anxiety, a fear of being judged by others, seems more universal than even ten years ago

Creeps me out