From Creating Things to Creating Space

It’s truly fascinating to me that I find it incredibly weird and challenging to introduce myself as an artist. I will find many other titles and descriptors for myself because it never really sounds right… anyway, I am an artist. But recently, I resonate with creative practitioner.

I can recall my childhood being the most creatively liberated time of my life. I strive to rekindle that, to relive it - to stretch it way out of that time bubble and into my present day, and even further into my future life. I kept myself busy with drawing, writing storybooks, building imaginary worlds out of boxes, talking to my imaginary friends and travelling to make-believe worlds.

As I approached my late teens, I knew that I had to ‘decide’ the trajectory of my potential career (no pressure). I chose the path that combined a bit of creativity and a bit of business (because the starving artist archetype was already embedded into my knowing).

And so I pursued with a BA in Visual Communication. I graduated. I worked many years in various creative (service) roles. Yet something in me always felt blocked, because I was always creating useless shit that had no soul. BUT - this was the business of creativity. My 8-year career in the film service industry was really colourful, quirky, exciting and FUN! But honestly, not sustainable for my well-being. I learnt and harnessed so many skills that would then translate into my next (and current) chapter of being an independent freelancing creative.

In this season I found the slower way of life that I could re-connect with my sense of self, ask the “who am I” questions frequently, go out into nature more, feel into my body’s wisdom and tap into my creativity in a way that is not connected to capitalism. I could find these little glimmers of little Julia Joy - she who was rich in her artistic expression and indulged in her imagination daily.

I wanted more be more like HER (me). So I made it my creative practice.

Exploration. Expression. Excavation. Experimentation.
Imagining. Dreaming. Desiring. Playing.
Symbolise. Give meaning.

I sensed that this is maybe what others may need too. We are so conditioned, so bound by our circumstances and/or choices, deeply affected by the happenings of life and our environments that we cannot go back to be our child-like selves OR get a chance to re-create and re-imagine ourselves as a joyful being of wonder. With this personal revelation, so began my journey of working with the youth in my community. I connected with a great organisation that offered deep dive trainings on youth work and how to implement process-art therapeutic programmes in vulnerable communities. To support and expand my work, I started hosting process-art workshops within the creative community in Cape Town.

I believe this work is truly powerful and very necessary. Art and creativity does not belong to the institutions. It belongs to the people. The ability to create is instinctive. It is the voices, the hands, the bodies, the movements, the expressions. Is it communication between ourselves and with our existence. It is one of our most primal abilities as humans.

Creativity is a fundamental tool for the human spirit, and care is a radical, ongoing act.