Share your art

“So many art and expressive therapists never share their art. Even Carl Jung did not dare to share his art – for fear of being seen as a crazy person. But I dare you to share your work despite your fears. Despite your (non)abilities. Share you art. It is worth it.”

This is what Shaun McNiff said at the Whitecliffe Expressive Arts Symposium last year. Well, he said it a bit more elaborate than that, but this is what stuck with me. Do I dare to share my art? Not really. I have started a creative journal last year and I have been writing stories for a little while now, but some things I just don't dare to share with a wider audience. Also, I don't call myself an artist. I am great at discounting my own work, thinking that no one would be interested in it in the first place.

And then, just last week, I listened to Judith Scott's story (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46LdVzWoNhI). I was in awe of her incredible ability to make her inner processes visible with her chosen medium. I witnessed how she managed to speak her first words after years of silence. How she followed her heart, innocently like a child. Without limiting or judging herself.
And then, a couple of days later, Stefan (my husband) and I had a conversation about the question: What is art? Who gets to decide? How much talent is needed for something to be considered art? It was a most wonderful conversation and it made me think some more.

Like I've said before, I don't consider myself an artist. I can't draw very well. I can't sculpt or weld or do anything that requires 'artistic skills'. But is this true? And does it matter? And what if I am actually wrong…? This year, I am planning to create more 'art'. To use it as a medium of self-care. And as a medium of self-discovery. And I have decided that Shaun was right after all: Art is worth sharing. Any art. When I share my art, I am vulnerable. I show myself to whoever dares to look. And if others don't consider it art: I believe it is not up to them to decide. So here is what I created today. Here is me.