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4/27

Is Art Dead? and suggestions for preservation

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An artful inquiry🌿 by The Easeful Place

Happy new moon in Taurus loves. What are you grounding into/realising as you sprout?

Today’s letter is about art and nonconformity (our favourite guests at The Easeful Place). But it is also about something that lives in the fabric of this creative community – the responsibility of being compassionate creators.
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In a world that diverts so much of our attention away from the slow process of art-making and rewards us for the brandification and convenient categorisation of being easily understood and consumed by a target audience, artfulness can feel distant. Artful living is all about the freedom to be a mirror, however you choose to embody that. It may be reflecting what is in your inner world, your community, your lineage. It’s being comfortable and confident enough to be authentic. When the value of art is less protected, we become less likely to authentically create what is placed within our hearts, minds, and childhood interests (i.e., reminders of living in our essence).
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Going back to the point at the start of this letter, this requires our deepest compassion. Compassion to ourselves as we unlearn what digital media has taught us about diluting our art and creation. Compassion to the process, which is long and needs unhurried time. Compassion in the conversations we hold with ourselves, our journals, our families and fellow creators in accountability. Compassion to those who have yet to discover their authority to resist and return to their inner passions.

In her video essay, Dasia Sade comments on the shift from creating art that was once solely expected to speak, inspire, reimagine, to becoming brand-centric and commercialised. Sade offers a thorough examination of art's transformation, especially how it was once a powerful tool and drive for change but now functions to beat or please algorithms. There’s plenty of food for thought in the video, check it out in full below.
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How do we preserve and uphold the value of art?

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Which is, in other words, a question of how do we return? There are a few ways to keep artistic visions alive. Here are three:

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1. We can begin by noticing, observing. So many of our online environments make us feel as though we must always produce something. We don’t have to. We can become witnesses again, finding corners in our everyday living where art is hiding or goes unnoticed. We can find art in nature. We can find art in the books that sit forgotten on our bookshelves. We can find art away from the platforms that make us feel like we exist to be sold to. We can discover what feels good and exciting and call it art. Listening to the stories, memories, and favourite artists of the older generations in our communities is also a way to learn and reconnect with the paths that were laid for us to come back to.
2. We can make intentional effort to seek out, share, be in conversation with, and verbalise our appreciation for living artists. Spending more time engaging with art - indulging, supporting, speaking about, being moved by art, dedicating our lives to making it - allows us to remember the worthiness of art in our existence. It is how we ensure that the vulnerable and brave work of making art doesn’t become eclipsed or devalued. It is also the way that the archives we wish to pass on, to immortalise, sobrevivir (Spanish for ‘outlast’ which I prefer to the English translation ‘to survive’) is able to. No amount of AI or disingenuous content can replace the library of wonder that is born when we speak with our mouths and eyes about what moves us to another being.
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Here is a small archive that has ignited or inspired thoughts, from the heart of The Easeful Place to yours.

Poetry

Indira’s visual poetry - WHAT IS COMMON ABOUT THE WEALTH is a poetic reckoning, a reminder to empire.

Pages from a book I have loved since 2021

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Street art - Oaxaca, Mexico (May, 2021)

I remember when I was researching Oaxaca in the months before I started my travel journey, beginning to listen to the destinations I felt most called to. This art piece, shared in many blogs and Pinterest posts, and my research about the Afro-Mexican indigenous communities on the coast, was one of the reasons that I chose to land in Oaxaca. This art was a part of what inspired me to trust a new space with my living. Seeing it on the wall for myself two days after I arrived in my new city and cycle held intimate meaning that I pass on here.

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3. The final way to nurture our relationship with art is to create and seek out spaces where art can be authentically created. This can be in your neighbourhood or as part of online, global, inter-cultural, inter-disciplinary communities, like this one. Creating against the tide (that strong and persistent tidal wave of applause when you go along with algorithmic creation) can be quite hard to brace alone. To gently put it down and find yourself in aligned community with creators who don’t want to create against their intuition, their passions, their imaginations or cultural creative practices may be medicine.
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Consider The Easeful Place as your invitation to unlearn and return to slower, simpler ways of being and creating - where art is abundant and community is listening to whatever you wish to offer. Every letter, community resource and mindful gathering exists so we can realign with our sacred creative power. The hope is that it will ripple out far beyond this space, into places it can continue to do its work. On that note, a moment to relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw and feel your gaze and heart soften. ​
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Feel free to share any other ways that you recentre art in your life, home, and/or practice. What pieces of art have spoken to you lately?

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Let us know and we'll share it with everyone here in a future letter 🌀

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Journey to creating what matters

Creating what once lived in my heart and now lives in your inbox is a source of joy that is so dreamy to me. This is a part of the commitment to intimacy and meaningful dialogue without being at the mercy of social media. Kit (formerly ConvertKit) is what I use to send out these letters and build The Easeful Place hub. If you're a blogger, creator or someone building a community of any kind, I highly recommend checking out what Kit has to offer. Kit is an email-first operating system for creative entrepreneurs and writers trusted by over half a million creators.

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Thank you for being a part of The Easeful Place community. Your presence is always appreciated. If these letters are useful to your journey, invite a friend over to join us in these letters and in future event gatherings. In the meantime, wishing you an easeful start to the week.
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Love,

Amara Amaryah

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