“I am an artist.”
Read about my wedding.
Last weekend, I went to Brussels to visit Les Halles de Schaerbeek for their season opening. As part of this evening, “La Nuit de L’Amour”, the artist Louise Trueheart was hosting a “Union Marathon”, where she offered the opportunity for guests to get married, or engaged, or ‘wedged’ to an idea, an object, a group of people, or anything they wanted in front of the audience, who served as witnesses.
I took the opportunity.
I put up my hand, stepped into the circle, and pronounced that I wanted to marry the idea that I was an artist.
Art, I explained to the 400 people in front of me, was something that I was not able study, or to pursue as a career. Because of the need to do something practical and profitable, I studied English and became a teacher, and for years I pushed my artistic projects to one side, consigning them to the periphery of “hobby” and “interest”. But now, thanks to EDGY, I’ve managed to cut out a space for myself, where I’m doing coaching and art, English and theatre, teaching and creativity, and there’s room for all of it now somehow, and the boundaries are fuzzy. So, I promised to the audience as the 400 people stretched out their 800 hands toward me to bless my commitment, from now on I would embrace this identity fully and without apology or explanation: I am an artist. And a coach. And a writer, a performer, a content creator. A friend, a lover, a teacher, a dog mum, a leo on the cusp of cancer, a translator, a high-functioning introvert.
I’m grateful to have been able to create a life where I no longer need to hide or hold back any parts of myself. I hope that the same is true for you and your life.
Thank you for bearing witness.
