“Imagine suddenly making new work that was outrageous and embarrassing: whose opinion would you worry about? What would it take for you to let go of that approval, to decide that you are ready to forge your own path and make the work you were born to make?”
From Art From Your Core: A Holistic Guide to Visual Voice by Kate Kretz
I was raised to be a ‘good girl’.
I was raised never to cause a fuss and to avoid conflict; never to swear or show anger; to be reliable and responsible; never to show off or draw attention to myself, and to keep quiet and stay unnoticed.
I was raised this way to keep me safe.
Many women I know were raised this way.
The idea of me being outrageous and embarrassing is so far outside the realm of my understanding that I can’t even begin to contemplate making art that would draw attention to myself in that way. And that’s why this question from Kate Kretz’s excellent book—it’s like therapy for your art practice—has been rolling around my head all summer.
But what IS outrageous and embarrassing in the art world nowadays?
I want to flip the question.
What’s outrageous and embarrassing is:
That Black American female artists comprise only 0.5% of museum acquisitions. (The Burns Halperin report)
That the majority of artists are paid nothing to produce art that’s shown in galleries and have to rely on gallery commissions as payment. (Why Artists Should Be Paid Every Time They Exhibit, Gwen Seemel)
That Arts Council England funding has been cut by more than 30% since the 1990s. (The Guardian)
That international art fairs are “an environmentally damaging travelling circus”. (The Art Newspaper)
That MFAs are now “exorbitantly priced luxury items”. (Jerry Saltz writing for The Vulture)
That the secondary art market is completely screwed up. (The Observer, My work sells for millions but only a fraction of that came to me)
That art history is still taught through a Eurocentric, colonial lens. (Decolonizing Art History, by Catherine Grant and Dorothy Price)
“[T]hat women artists’ works accounted for just 9% of the auction market in 2022.” (Artsy)
That the majority of successful women artists are still “white and Western”. (Artsy Women Artists Report 2024)
That Damien Hirst is one of the richest living artists, reportedly worth US$700 million! (Damien Hirst falsified dates on at least 1,000 of his pieces…Boing Boing)
What’s outrageous to me is that artists are taught to keep quiet about the inequities within the art world—the “it’s always been that way” argument—and are expected to be grateful for the tidbits of opportunities thrown their way: The Exposure Myth.
What’s embarrassing to me is that I’ve been complicit in perpetuating that myth and have believed that being a ‘good girl’ in the art world would lead to success.
It’s time to change my story.
I said that when I reached 150 subscribers I’d make some changes to this newsletter. As of writing, I’m at 168 subscribers so change is overdue. After almost two years of writing (yes, it’s been that long!) I want to devote less time to pointing out the obvious elitism and inequalities of the art world (with which you are already very familiar), and more time to offering ways of working beyond capitalism, beyond patriarchy and the industrial art complex.
There will still be some critique—it’s an important part of activism—but I want to shift into dreaming up, supporting, and organizing alternative models for the visual arts.
With me?
You may have already noticed that the rhythm of my messages to you has changed. Sending out a piece of considered, well-edited writing every week became unsustainable and outside my energetic capacity.
With a focus on ease (my word of the summer), here’s my new schedule:
Paid subscribers, you will hear from me weekly and I’ll send you a mix of writing, video and audio messages.
Free subscribers, you will receive my writing every two weeks.
If I’m tired, sick, or just fancy a week off, I retain the right to listen to my body and rest.
I hope that is enough for you. It’s enough for me.
Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. Together may we build new worlds for our creative expression and support each other as we step out of outrage and embarrassment and into hope and possibility.
Much love to you.
Until next time.
JC
You're on fire! Preach! 👊🏻
More power to you, Jaqueline. It's great to see some well-directed, honest rage!
I can identify with all this from the perspective of an indie novelist (or novelist-to-be, next month!). It's done me a huge amount of good to stop begging for crumbs from publishers who would probably still insist that I did a lot of their job for them.
Substack is helping all sorts of previously unempowered creatives to take control.