After the exercise in Tuesday’s class where we discussed society’s expectations of what it means to be an artist, I spent some time thinking about what it truly means to be an artist. What, if any, are the qualities that unite them, what does being an artist actually consist of. Looking at the list we compiled I found that I had concurred with many of the items on the list. Ideas that upon further reflection I began to doubt.
Over the weekend I came across a website called JacksGap, a visual media project run by Jack and Finn Harries, two British brothers who began their careers in film by making YouTube videos. The brothers have featured a series on called “Following Heart” on the website in which they followed a Violinist, a Marine Biologist and an Artist for a week each. In the week that they followed these people they documented their life and their work. The main focus of the project is passion, as can be seen in it’s title. Jack and Finn seem to believe that the most fundamental aspect of being an artist or a scientist is “heart”, which is generally translated into passion. After reading about the project and watching the three five minute profiles on three very different women, I found myself drawn to this idea of “heart”. How can we measure it? How can we recognize it? Is it something that all of us have whether we are artists or scientists? One thing is certain, the three women featured in this project certainly have a lot of passion and belief in what they are doing. They each have a strong vision and work extremely diligently to make those visions a reality.