The ‘Calm’ Gremlin

NEW YEAR, OPERATE CALMLY, COMPOUND THE VISION

It’s your favourite type of newsletter again - the pick-n-mix scramble. Mainly because it feels cliché to drown the Gremlins in more ‘New Year New Me’…eugh, eye roll, self-help trope when it’s super simple - as Jerry Saltz said, “Make art, you big baby”. That’s all there is to it. So, here are some things that are helping me.

Thoughts for the year ahead

1. “Where are you going to make the best art?” Super simple. This line was framed to me, and I realised it’s the perfect question to run decisions against.

2. Focus on calm, strategic cuts. Think more scalpal, less… flailing.

3. More short breaks for creative inspiration and recentering.

4. Love, money, and creativity run parallel.

5. With AI making paintings, songs, and writing, maybe creativity isn’t about the result anymore but about the process.

6. Hence, this year, I will invest in showing the art-making process. AND HENCE, the process of the process will become the art. (It’s a bit Meta… are you following?)

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The Strangers Yearbook Relaunches

Do you remember the Covid portrait project I made in 2020, where I asked strangers from around the world to send a selfie on Instagram and tell me how they were feeling?

Well, it’s back, and I’m taking new portraits for the class of ‘24.

To participate, DM the Strangers Yearbook Instagram saying you want to join. Simple.

This time around, I want to focus on getting some meaty, beautiful stories and curate responses that remind us what it means to be human. So please ask a friend or find someone interesting to participate. 

Field Notes

Here are some sketches I’m making daily in Thailand, and I thought you might like to peek inside.

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And lastly, here is some wisdom

Desiderata
Max Ehrmann, 1927

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

…

- The poem that keeps on giving, memorise the whole thing and it will serve you well in life.

Take care and much love,

Karimah