Identity is a pretty complex topic. We can talk about it from all kind of approaches, from the practical to the highly philosophical. I personally think that our identity is a combination of the narratives we internalize about our place in the timeline of all the things we perceive to occur. If the world is subjective, then who we believe we are is only based in our point of view. I know there’s the part of us that others perceive (persona i think?) and make assumptions about. I’ll set aside that part of the topic for another time as it is its own can of worms. This is an introspective exercise about the kind of creative I think myself to be.
This is probably the part where I get stuck most. Im not sure if I AM my identity, OR if identity is something we wear or use like a mask or a hat. However, when we talk about creative identity, it can be a bit different. For starters, any title an individual chooses to use to describe themselves already serves as a narrative device for their personal fiction. For example, an accountant. A certified accountant is someone who went through the trouble of fulfilling the requirements that an institution deemed necessary to fill in the roll of an accountant. That individual was not born an accountant. However, earning that right helps him operate as such within a specific system, capitalism to be exact.
So then, who deems a creative, creative? Is it the audience or the individual? Creative seems like less of a title and more of an adjective. Back to the accountant example. One can be a creative accountant, like the people that find as many deductibles when they do taxes. In the case of artists, we sometimes use the two terms interchangeably, but is that always accurate? There’s something about those two terms that, TO ME PERSONALLY, make me feel like they should not be used interchangeably.
The best way I can describe the difference, is by using the following example. A music producer (not a beat maker), and a guitar player. A guitar player in a recording studio can more often than not, play the shit out of their instrument. He is a master of his craft. So then why does he need a producer? A lot of the time, producers can’t even play an instrument. So then what are they doing at a recording studio? Well what is a Director doing in a movie set if the Actors are the ones performing?
I think that’s the question I’m trying to answer when I question creative identity. Im not too concerned with mastering a specific traditional medium. I want to break down and reconstruct ideas and present them in fresh, never before seen combinations. Like an alchemist. Or a contestant on Chopped. I want to earn opportunities where I can be creative with a project and use techniques and/or aesthetics never before seen in that kind of project.
There’s also a spiritual component to my approach. Quick tangent incoming. For most of human history, there has always been the role of the shaman. The one guy in the tribe that can communicate with “spirits” or “ancestors”. Im not gonna prove or disprove if those things are real, but it was the shaman’s job to communicate what these entities were saying. How did they go about that? Creativity. Through chants, song, stories, performance, even fashion. This role evolved as society did. For a while even certain religions had a monopoly on communicating and interpreting the transcendental and holy written in scripture. “Come into our building, give us valuables and we will tell you what this book says since is the dark ages and you can’t read” Im sure they were a bit more coy about it, but you get the gist.
So what value does that role have in our cynic, magic lacking, post modern world? I think the answer might be meaning. As in, shamans have always been the ones that help us find meaning. Perhaps post modernism is just another glass ceiling that we need to break through to get to the next big step in civilization. New abstract concepts need to be explored to continue the human journey, and art is the perfect medium that a modern shaman can use to share and deconstruct complex ideas. I think it’s worth a shot, or a thousand.
I don’t think a creative identity is the same as a style or aesthetic. Perhaps a creative identity might be closer to a process or approach. I think of creatives as mediums rather than creators. To me, Creativity flows through us rather than come from us. I think Julia Cameron does well in explaining this concept in her book: The Artist Way, and more recently Rick Rubin does an amazing job at expanding the idea on his book: The Creative Act. I’m not saying anything new but it is the way I like to approach creativity.
The way I understand art to work nowadays is more about the narrative behind a piece than the skill put into the piece. Storytelling is a skill that I would also like to add to my projects. Writers like Dan Harmon give me a lot to aspire to. His story circle is a good guide and looking at his work makes me feel like storytelling doesn’t have to be tedious and boring, it might even be fun.
With all of that in mind, and as I reflect harder on creative identity and fall deeper into the rabbit hole, I’m realizing that I don’t think I can really zero in on who I think I am creatively. It’s a pretty Herculean task. Digging deep and coming face to face with who you are and how you go about it. So for now I’ll just make a list of words that can be used as adjectives and I’ll be sure to come back and write more about “Creative Identity” what ever that might mean.
Creatively (and on this post) I am all over the place. I think myself a poet, a musician, a visual artist, an absurdist, an existentialist, a collage builder and a storyteller. I sometimes approach the creative process the way an alchemist would their craft. There’s times when I build things by “sampling” the way one creates an hip hop instrumental. Some other times I approach it like a shaman would when they would try to talk to spirits, by allowing the ideas to flow through me and expressing them creatively instead of “creating them “. Is that it? I’m not sure, so I’ll go back to the drawing board and try to tackle this question as I engage in the creative act.
Ttyl
-Adam 9/20/23