In the fog of doubt and existential ‘what am I doing with my life?’ thoughts that fill my mid-40s mind at the moment, I’ve managed to connect some positive dots this week, with the help of a few things: words of wisdom from a stranger; the art of Barbara Kruger; and something very lovely that one of you said to me.
First up, the stranger. Although she doesn’t feel so much like a stranger because I’ve been reading her weekly emails for years now. She’s called Helen Perry, and she gives advice on small business marketing — building mailing lists, social media strategies, content creation, that sort of thing. I also know about her puppy, I know about her piles of washing, her weekend plans, her skiing holidays, and what she watches and listens to for business and pleasure. When her email lands I always open it. I’ll usually find something valuable in what she shares but mainly I just love how she says it.
In this week’s email Helen told me about how she hasn’t really posted on Instagram at all this year. She used to put out a lot of small biz content, and it was really useful stuff. She has been wondering whether anyone had noticed that she had stopped posting. To be honest I hadn’t.
Why the silence though? ‘It’s not that deep’, she said,
it wasn't planned and it's not an I've-had-it-with-Insta thing. It's about knowing what to post about. When I opened the account 6+ years ago I stuck a yellow post-it note to my computer that said "is it valuable to others?" and it's a yard stick I've used to measure my work against ever since. I'm not sure exactly where the business is going this year or what I'm selling. So if it's not valuable (or doesn't feel authentic) don't post it.
Aside from the wisdom of avoiding pointless Instagram posting just to be visible, her question made me think about what value my work brings to others. And it also made me think about the exhibition of recent work by the American artist Barbara Kruger, which I had seen the day before at the Serpentine Galleries in London.
Kruger has been making art since the 1970s, and is known for her bold text-based images, which address mechanisms of power, gender, class and capital. All the juicy stuff I love. Through her provocative slogans and images appropriated from mass media, Kruger challenges viewers to critically examine societal norms and values, and asks us to consider what it means to have something ‘useful’ to say in a world saturated with visual and textual information.
There are several really thought-provoking artworks in this show, which brings together room-sized installations, videos, sound and large collage posters. Everything demands your full attention, partly because the information and images come at you thick and fast so it’s hard to keep up unless you stay laser-focused. Blink and you might miss something.
But also because the meaning in every combination of text+image seems profound and really important to absorb. She directly addresses the viewer in single-word statements or short phrases, similar to the visual language of headlines, which creates a sense of urgency. It’s almost like she’s the Oracle.
