Upon reading Michael Rabiger’s ‘You and the creative process‘, I came across the notion of self-discovery through constant production of your own passion. I, as a media practitioner still have no idea of what my own personal style, theme or identity presented among my films/artworks, in which why I am so interested in Rabiger’s article. I’ve learned that this self-exploration is indeed messy, slow and probably will never end. But we have to be willing to take chances yet courageous to trust and show who we are to the people around us just as he said “You cannot excel as an artist and stay in hiding”. Thus, it got me thinking and lead me to be a risk taker in order the become fully alive.
To express yourself is to master the art of non-conformity. Chris Guillebeau in his book discusses about creating your own ideal world. I understood that listening to your own thoughts and actually making them alive creates an inspiration. In Lynne Ramsey’s Small Deaths she expresses her true self of impressionistic creativity through her unique, unattached use of non-diegetic audio. She also cleverly conveyed a beautiful imperfection and rather broken cut editing such as jammed cutting shots repeated throughout parts of her film. This to me is a wonderful self-expression/discovery of the beauty in every individual’s imperfections. To her, the characters, visual and the audio aspects of a film is very important. Hence the details in cuts, unattached sounds, etc are little but powerful components. This way, Lynne Ramsey did push the boundaries of her comfort zone and took these risks.
Is art the same is therapy? Well, I’ve always thought whenever I have conflict emotionally, making art would help. Always thought that it is my own therapy and medicine to keep me satisfied with living. Apparently that’s not truly the case. The text states that if we do really need therapy to survive, it must be self-directed and art is not about self-direction, rather a creation that is meant to explore mysteries of human existence.
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/theDailyArticle/60303.html
Guillebeau, C 2010, The Art of Non-Conformity, publish Penguin Group, edn. 1, New York.