Great post.

I think there’s a whole series of obstacles which make just the practice of making art very difficult for those artists who are outside of the mainstream.

Some thoughts:
The Art World is becoming more and more exclusive. Most people have been effectively barred from Art School because there’s hardly any grants available. It’s financial suicide to do Art these days - or you need to have rich parents.

Who has the space to make great art? Most creative people I know are hustling constantly to get money. Arts Council grants have almost entirely disappeared, making it even harder for artists to get the space and tools needed to make the work.

Does all this have an impact on the kinds of work made? For sure, however necessity really is the mother of invention.

Then there’s the psychological issues of trying to maintain confidence when you’re from a background where you’re not encouraged or worse actively discouraged from being creative. Lack of self confidence is a huge problem if you’re trying to push yourself to take risks.

I was really lucky as a student, I was taught by artists who I really respected and they really challenged me. At 16 my tutor taught me the best lesson ever, something I make is not me. To criticise it is not criticising me. I think it’s really important to have creative friends who you can trust so we can be really honest with each other.

Especially as we seem to heading towards such right wing, reactionary times.

On why Sarah Maple over Donald Rodney? Well you could say there’s a lost generation of British Artists who seem have been totally forgotten after the rise of the YBA and almost total marketisation of the British Art World.

And how unsurprising that the lost generation was not only full of artists who were not white, not posh, not straight, not kissing the art buyer’s backside.

Chila Burman, Maud Sulter, Jo Spence, Keith Piper, Alison Marchant, Donald Rodney to name just a few. Where are they now? Where is the recognition of the work they made?

Sarah Maple’s work can be consumed by the art market and it’s got that right mix of edgy but not too edgy that the collectors favour.

As for Toni Morrison, well she is one of the of the greatest living writers, perhaps the greatest.

I was listening to Radio 4 the other night and there was a review of Morrison’s new book. One of the mealy mouthed panel was whinin’ that you couldn’t understand what one of Morrison’s characters was saying. How embarassing to be a so called critic and actually not get something so simple dimple. Why should the reader understand every word? And could she not understand it cos she’s white and not used to hearing Black voices?

Funny when posh, white male writers get all difficult and artsy they get lorded for it. When a Black woman does it she’s pilloried for making it too difficult.

Toni Morrison should be a shining beacon of inspiration to all of us of no matter what we’re trying to do of what dizzying heights of lyrical creativity and recognition can be achieved by pushing ourselves, havign a vision and being self critical.

As for your films, it makes me really angry when (having ther pleasure of knowing your personally) seeiung how hard you have to work to get your work made. Imagine what you could do if you put all that energy and drive purely into making your projects and not into financing them.

I hope one day you get the awards and the recognition you deserve.

Bird x

Hey, I’ve just listened to the R4 feature again and it was Kerry Shale who was critical of the book’s language.

I recalled (wrongly oopsie) that it was Kathryn Hughes who almost outrightly dismissed the novel as not worth the effort (to paraphrase). It was in fact Shale.

My points about Morrison being invalidated for being “difficult” stand.