'Memory is often a hindrance to creative experience.'
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
It's always necessary to encourage participants in my sessions to go beyond their usual patterns and behaviours, and to honestly listen to what this moment really demands of them.
To listen deeply on a physical and emotional level, and how they each inform the choices in their artwork.
Not only can memory hijack our creative experience in the art making process. But also in the imagination of seeing ourselves, and others, differently and more expansively. Beyond the narrow narratives we have defaulted to ourselves. That we can move through an experience with more imagination - and a little rebellion - than we dared.
It’s hard work to go beyond the contours of what's most familiar to you. And it can be damn scary sometimes to dip into what you are capable of.
I get chills every time I see someone push against the edges of their known self.
I'm not going to lie though, I also get a little scared because now we're both in this new territory together and well... There's no map for this place.