Art is a vital component of human life.
Some will read the sentence above and immediately agree. Some will read it and scoff, but regardless of what their conscious opinion is, both types rely on art equally as much. When you want to decompress, or get things that worry you out of your mind, you look to art. When you turn on the radio during annoying traffic, or you sink into your couch and turn on your favorite Netflix program, you're using art to reset. It's transcendent. I strive to add some "transcendence" to lives through visual arts. An image when styled correctly, set in the right scenic environment, and made to fit the subject, does that. A dance, choreographed skillfully, and performed vulnerably, does that. It captures a moment in our world that seems almost like that elevated world in our mind's eye.
William Shakespeare wasn't lying when he said "All of the world is a stage". My background in professional theatre has made me more aware of that fact now than ever. When we are polite to strangers over the phone during office calls, we are acting. When we dress according to a book of standards for a position regardless of how we like to dress personally, we are wearing costumes. When we present the best version of ourselves even though we might feel like the worst, we are performing a part.
As an artist, it's sometimes a struggle to find a path in life that fulfills your need to create while still providing a purpose to the greater picture of humanity. An artist can't excel just by learning techniques of a trade like a mechanic or study to learn procedures like a doctor. An artist's skills are inherent. They're inside, flowing from something deeper than what can be explained in text or sometimes even experienced. Being an extremely sensitive child with extreme and sometimes crippling self-awareness gave me the ability to see one specific thing many different ways. My perspective is my art. My unique viewpoint in this world is what draws me to create art so I can show my own personal world to others. From dance and theatre to branding, styling or image making, all of it is art to me and all of it fulfills my purpose. If someone resonates and finds solace or inspiration in seeing my vantage point of the world, whether the image takes them to a place or watching the dance makes them forget their stress from that day, then my fulfillment is meaningful.