Am I An Artist?

The futility of defining the creative

Photography by author Reylia Slaby

During the course of my career, a whole variety of questions have lived in my mind. Not all of these questions are good, and can oftentimes damage and taint the integrity of the project that I’m doing.

While this doubt in particular never was much of a problem, the validity of the title “Artist” applied to my name always was accompanied by hesitancy. Yet, I have known nothing else, and I am glued to it.

The waking hours have been full of attempting to dissect the reasons for this unusual parallel. An immediate distrust of myself torpedos to the surface, and I am unable to properly access the part of me that feels confident and happy.

Part of these emotions is triggered by an unwillingness for the title and the fear that you won’t be able to live up to it. So you push it away, abashed, and inadvertently deny something you could rightfully deserve.

I’d like to think that if you seek truth, you are an artist. This can be expanded to consciously observing the world, and replicating it in the form of your medium. But even then, the definition is incomplete, for there is no obligation to seek the truth.

There isn't one solid framework that sets an artist apart. There is no labeled box to be put in. But perhaps the elusiveness in the…