DIALOGUES : No, You're Not Original

An artist came to me and said,
“I’m not original enough for them.”

So I said, “Here, take this pen and paper and write down the name of everyone who has ever done anything for you, or had any kind of influence, living or dead. Start with your mother. Don’t forget people you don’t even know.”

So they made a start on it and quickly realised their ancestral and interpersonal debt.

We threw the stack of papers, filled with thousands of names, on the fire together.

"There is no originality", I said. "What you bring to the world in your work is your fresh angle on an ancient idea. The more truthful you are about this, the better we'll be for it. Your gift is not some notion of genius, implying and centering you as the singular source of the work. That would be incorrect and would render your work impotent. Your gift is the haphazard and peculiar set of experiences, perspectives, insight that drives your internal filters that would make you choose one way of saying or doing something over another. Your gift is your sensibility, your ability to interpret. You may be unoriginal, but you are nonetheless unique, as a conduit.

~Siki

“Originality only matters to someone who misunderstands the function of art making and the role the artist plays in our situation on this planet. It is a veil of irrelevance, used to hide the truth: that they have nothing to contribute of worth. No one is or has ever been, or ever could be original. That this myth persists is only for the benefit of those who have no other way of selling you their worthless junk.

~Homin

Genius knows no genius.

~ Ramidus