Monthly reflections for thoughtful creatives from author Samantha Garner, a creative advisor for introverted or ND creatives. Learn more here.
I've always felt like people at the margins tend to notice where the seams in their society are - at least, a little easier than those who live inside it comfortably. It doesn't always make these outsiders wiser, I think, just more attuned to what's a little off-kilter.
But there's an interesting question behind this perspective: What can you do when you have this knowledge, but maybe not the power to easily change things?
This tension can create some truly meaningful work. For many outsiders, their creative work is the strongest tool they have to make sense of the worlds they live between, to try and negotiate that reality. Maybe it's the only way they can suggest change at all.
They comment with sharpness. Their distance reveals truths. Sometimes there's even a certain freedom in creating as an outsider - like Shakespeare's fool characters, who can speak the truth of a situation because they're not one of the elite. Or maybe it means resisting external pressures to create in a certain predetermined way. Staying true to themselves always.
Whether creatives use their outsider status overtly or not, that exciting feeling is often there in their work - possibility.
Your turn to get curious
Reflection: In what ways (large or small) do you challenge a dominant narrative/belief with your work or process?
Happy creating,
-Samantha.