Freedom to Express
Freedom to Express has me thinking about how many nail art influencers instagram has been serving me lately. I’ve gotten really into nail art on instagram, and the algorithm keeps feeding me more of it. I’ve never been one to paint my nails, let alone have glue on acrylics. But I’m starting to really want to buy a set of these over the top nails. Obviously, this is somewhat the opposite of freedom since I’ve been convinced to buy something I never would have seen had instagram not found a way to capture my attention and make money off me…. But…. I’ve been embracing more over the top cutesy, girly stuff. Which is weird for me. I think its partially a teenage rebellion thing that is arriving late. My mom always looked down on women who were overly feminine. I’ve started embracing some of those things that would drive her crazy, like these totally impractical nails. It’s way more fun than never trying these things out. Anyway, I’ll probably buy a set at some point.
Freedom to Explore
Freedom to Explore makes me think of one of my favorite instagram accounts: @letspainttv. John Kilduff is an artist who makes these awesome low-budget multi media videos. They’re usually of him painting while doing other things and saying inspirational things. In this video I took a still from he’s painting, riding a stationary bike, and saying: “Life will work for you. Life will make sense for you. At some point in time, life will make sense. It doesn’t have to make sense now. It will make sense. It will come to you. Keep going. You’ll figure it out.”
I love his message, and I love the way he treats art making. For him, it’s a necessity but he’s not treating it as too precious. And he’s adding as many additional elements to the process as he can: video, riding a bike, giving a speech, sometimes playing a piano (really poorly). To me he embodies the idea of freedom to explore, and his videos, without being explicit about it, give permission to others to explore as well.
Freedom From Expectation
@webelongseattle: Annya
Freedom from Expectation made me think of a recent gallery show I saw. The show featured photographs of AAPI women holding photos of their younger selves. Each photo was accompanied by a story by the woman photographed of her name and what it means to her and how her name has changed or not changed over the years to either escape the expectations of family, or make it easier for English speaking people to pronounce, or embrace their heritage, or try to branch out on their own, or embrace their gender identity. It was a really fascinating an emotional look at what many AAPI women deal with in learning to claim their own identities through family societal pressure. It was a good reminder, for me, that you don’t know all of the pressures people are dealing with internally, and, for many, finding your own identity can be a painful process.