To how many of us does the question of acceptance matters.i am currently doing my 4th which is last year from an arts college National College Of Arts Rawalpindi.For three years i have been fighting with my parents and justifying them art as a career has been right for me.They think i wont find a good job,they don't want me to be an immoral creature.Now i am done with all this justification.Ab i wont do this anymore or let them discourage me and my practice.i am sure over 80% of all you arty people must have been through of what i have said.
Yesterday i had an argument with my mother and she just said,"i am worried about u,what will you do with your life ,art school that wasn't for you"
.My reply to her was,
".....ama y cant u accept i am special ;i am not normal ;i love to be crazy ;i am special that is why i am here...."
The best thing about art community is people are not judgmental and they accept you.Even if a man comes wearing a sari honestly they will accept him.One doesn't have to think or feel awkward or be stressful about taking somebodies approval or in a fight of proving our identity.That is why here one is relaxed about oneself .We are less conscious of our profoundity.
But in my country there lies a huge problem.Here we have a cult of doctors and engineers.They think of themselves as Gods intellectual beings.They think we are looney.We avoid using our brains.Well for them, first of all artists enjoy being crazy ; kindly don't underestimate us.Like you we hold a license to do what we want.Everybody cannot do art but US.We artists do art with a meaning .Four years are alot to earn this license.
You know what for now this acceptance is easy as i am inside my college.Outside its walls i have to make people realize and make them understand that this field and this status is not what it used to be.I cannot ignore and avoid everytime of how people say about US artists.It hurts me everytime they say something negative.Daily its a fight for me to make people understand.i suppose we all amateur practioning artists have.And i know this flame inside me is going to diminish soon because a time is near when i am going to get tired from this habbit.Habbit of making people understand that "i am an artist and accept it".
very well done girlie jee :)
ReplyDeletehonest, to the point and accurate about the art community ... we are the social scientists and the our society needs to recognize our existence! :)
ReplyDeleteWell Said !! i agree to all wot u have said above... It is indeed a problem that artists face...but u cant just be so aggressive in justifying the existence of your profession .. U have to prove yourself that u r actually an artist for which u r capable enough ,not by just saying it by words.. instead of arguing a good artist should just listen and prove and we must not forget that artists have always played a major role in rehab of the humanity ...and the acceptance of an artist and the awareness is very rapidly spreading and its u who have to stay firm and gentle with ur thoughts and words that will lead to a 100 % acceptance ...then only will come a time that the next generation will not have to face the problems that we face!! Cheers :)
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact I'm lucky in this regard because my parents accepted it years ago but some of the relatives are still skeptic about the importance of ART.Things are changing though. Very well written Amna:)
ReplyDeleteman i can't even begin to tell you how bad im facing this crisis RIGHT NOW. i'v had this balistic fight at home and only because they can't get it when i say that things are going on with me a certain way because i do stuff that is diffrent from what they can ever comprehend. m losing it too, the spark or whatever. m tired. m so soo tired.
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ReplyDeletethis was a comment posted to me by a friend whose going to pursue this career this year my very best wishes to her
ReplyDeleteSAMIA DARR
amna you know what..em just planning to get adm in art school aur abhi say meri friends mera mazak urati hayn..n literlly humari fight hojati hay....for them may art school may ja kar kuch nahi kar sakti kyun kay koi so called SCOPE nahi hay..huh..but for me its every thing...!!!..n ab mujay realize hogaya hay keh shayeed hm kabhi kisi ko explain nahi karsaktay...doc eng toh haar koi bana chata hay but artist bohat kam bana chatay hayn...so we r one of them n we r proud of it..!!
Are we really that special?
ReplyDeletei dont know about others ....but I AM.because if others can say about their respecctive careers so can i.Waisay we face hardships more than others in our respective feilds so YUP.
ReplyDeleteWe all have to prove our worth no matter where we are in life.and that z never done overnight.it takes a lot of hard work,perseverance n dedication.its hard but never impossible.no one actually came with a manual to fight all odds n succeed in life. But when you are finally where you always dreamt of seeing yourself it doesn't matter a bit what people said or thought along the way.I always believed in proving one's worth no matter what.I always remember my father telling us "never loose your individuality coz of what people think n say".I have strong faith in the fact that wherever we are placed in life,we are there for a reason n we are there coz we are best suited for it.it's just a matter of hanging on a little longer.I always wanted to be a writer so no one could kill the knack of creative writing in me.in other words we should have a medium to express all that's bottled up inside us,whether it's writing or painting or any other form of art. So as long as we have at least 4 out of every 10 people accepting n respecting what we do there z nothing to worry about........
ReplyDeletei 100% agree with you mami....if only those 4 could have converted to 8...inshallah they will soon.
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