Process, curiosity, work, play, documentation, exercise, dream, deadline. Creativity comes in many forms, he believes Oana Barbonia: we just have to let ourselves go and pay attention to things. Between inspiration and blockage lies the vast and grainy space of trial. Her advice is to work with what you have. Take breaks. Know when to (not) take yourself too seriously.
“Take this time to do what you feel like doing, how you know how to do, how you want to do. Give yourself a chance. And if someone comes and comments for free, you can always say “hey, there’s already so much creativity in world, go and choose from there”, says Oana.
Oana defines herself as a visual reporter. She was DoR’s visual editor, collaborates with publications such as Scena9 or Films in Frames, is the author of neon messages that can be seen around the city and of blue messages, exhibited on Instagramin a series-journal started two years ago.
How she gathers her creative resources, where she looks for inspiration, what happens when she doesn’t find it, about the creative process and the questions behind it, Oana tells more in the following lines:
Personal definition of creativity
I think it’s a process rather than something spontaneous from the universe. I say it so frankly because I grew up with many idyllic and unrealistic ideas about this work, including myself separating and caring. I also grew up in the village, so I took advantage of the environment to imagine the routines of a special writer who will succeed in the big world.
On the one hand, it’s good, because this gave me the exercise to do things with whatever ideas came to me and I got to train my mind. On the other hand, I realize that it is important to cultivate creativity from everyone, not to separate and point fingers, that we end up perpetuating the idea that you are either born creative or you are not.
When I held visual play workshops with people of all ages, I often heard from adults that “I’m not good at it, I’ve never been good at being creative”, when creativity actually comes in so many ways. We just have to let ourselves go and pay attention to things.
What came with the experience
The fact that I know this job is sustained exercise. How do I know that, after a long time of learning, cultivating, filtering and observing, you end up being the man with ideas that come on the spot, you surprise yourself too. That maybe this will differentiate you later, but actually, it’s a process. I think, in short, creativity is attention repackaged with attention.
Also with experience, there are many things that come easier: I know where to look if I need to document myself. I know my aesthetic. I know how to explain an idea. I know how to separate the area from “now we dream”, “now we find practicality and think deadlines”. Sometimes I’m actually glad I’m getting older.
Photo credit: Lena Ciobanu
Habits, shortcuts, recipes
I think that in my case, creativity is very much related to how present I am. It sounds simple, but I have a really big problem with it. So the recipe would be to sit with my mind, write in my journal, stay in the present, look at people and the world around me carefully, implicitly at me. At the same time, to be extremely curious. And often, you just have to work until something comes along. And when it doesn’t come, work with what you have. We don’t have to excel every day.
Sources of inspiration
I operate on the cliché that everything inspires me. Everything I see, live, dream – I implicitly have a tradition with my parents to often tell each other what we dream about, that Oltenia, where I’m from, is the place of magic.
Otherwise, recently I’ve been reading a lot about writers’ rituals and texts from women, for example I finally got around to Interior Zeroby Lavinia Braniște and I really like how she writes. I love reading about how other people work and what routines they have.
Sources of inspiration from online
I can’t put my finger on anything fixed and concrete. I am really inspired by many things. Especially the internet comments. Many are absolutely destructive, especially on Facebook, so I avoid the platform. But on TikTok or YouTube there are so many personal stories and simple but powerful thoughts. I even used to have a series on Insta stories with curated comments.
Courses, workshops, events to inspire you
I’m going to ramble, but with intention. There was no formal course or singular event that inspired me. In fact, being part of the DoR magazine team for five years, later the publication’s visual editor, was probably an incredibly rich well of moments that trained and activated my mind and defined me.
Once through the people in the team and their sharp minds – which I recommend to you even today, although the magazine no longer exists in the form it was then, but also through the projects we were doing, from DoR Live, to meetings with subscribers, to The Power of Storytelling journalism conference. A youtuber once said about her community, that “I want to be in the middle of the crowd” and that’s what DoR did for me, and that’s what I sought to do later as a freelancer, but also personally. To be. to go Let me see. That always helps.
Expo “This Is Yours To Keep”, Ototo 2023
The obstacles to creativity
The pressure and seeming pressure to do things a certain way. The embarrassment of not disturbing. Comfortable work. I suffer them all. Including working with someone else in mind (what that person could/would do). Which, I understand in many cases, when there is a project on something specific, you have an audience, you have to take care, etc. But if we’re talking about something creative that comes from you, you have to, somehow, but must to do the work for yourself, first and foremost. It’s a matter of focus and intention. I try to come back to it when I get lost.
Expo “On her side”, Timisoara
What happens when you have stuck moments
I think I got lucky here. I’ve had episodes here and there, but I’ve always gotten back to getting the job done pretty quickly. Over time, I calmed down. I think it also helps that I understand my process and mold myself to it: for example, if I have a week to produce a collage or text, maybe five days I just think about what I could do or put together a mood board, I play, and at the end I execute. It’s organized chaos. Adrenaline of I need to get this done it helps me a lot in the end. Okay, here I’m talking more about working for other people/other projects, i.e. freelance creative director, collage or writing work.
Collage detail from the exhibition “We among ourselves” at Rezidenta9
But at the same time, I also moved to the country for eight months this year to refocus and rethink things about my personal work. Luckily that’s where I grew up and it was easy for me to jump into the peaceful and soothing countryside that keeps invading our internet about it. And it’s reassuring, but I don’t think it’s the lifesaver.
I think it’s important to do well wherever we are. That in fact this blockage of doing comes from there indirectly or directly. It’s not about something more philosophical. You have to take care of yourself. We’ve kind of popularized creating in chaos, and I’d suggest that we also popularize creating with routines.
Creativity is on everyone’s lips. What was lost, what was gained
Of everything. I think it’s an enormous amount of pressure. I think there’s more room for more, but at the same time there’s something very illusory about it, because even though TikTok provides the platform, it also takes people into exhausting areas of saturation. It’s a double-edged sword.
But what helped me, so we can say that this is what I won – it’s not exactly the revelation and it probably sounds innocent, but I was talking to my editor with whom I’m working on a secret little book – that there are so many cool things in the world and what the hell am I trying to be among them. And while I was talking, I stopped and said “this is it”. Good work already exists. There is already something for everyone. So take this time to do what you feel like doing, how you know how to do, how you want to do. Give yourself a chance. And if someone comes and comments for free, you can always say “hey, there’s already so much creativity in the world, go and pick from there”.
The pressure to be creative around the clock
I think there are many nuances in this discussion, but I will summarize the one experienced recently and the solution that emerged. I remember perfectly moments in the last months, especially since I took a break from the series of messages in blue (which were on Insta and in exhibitions or magazines) when I felt pressure in my body to continue writing, producing, be creative, that “oh, something huge depends on me”.
It doesn’t depend. The world went on even without me being productive. I certainly find value in my work and there are people who find value in my work and I am eternally grateful to be able to do things that are appreciated. But I have to remind myself not to take myself so seriously. To take what I do seriously, but at the same time not to take myself seriously. There are many creative people, there are many good projects, we have plenty of everything. At worst, we take turns.
Expo “This Is Yours To Keep”, Ototo 2023
The Influence of AI & Social Media
I’m not that skilled and I’m sure there are people more connected to this topic, especially in the area of AI in art. I guess I’m naive again. That I say let’s applaud their ability to improve efficiency on more technical aspects, but at the same time I think that in the end we will return to everything that comes out of a human hand. There is something beautiful in the failure of perfection. No AI will take away the joy of doing things almost perfectly.
Source: www.iqads.ro
