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Abbie ShoresParticipant::I suppose I should answer my own question properly….
Right now, the thing I am most actively making is actually this magazine site itself. I keep forgetting that it counts, but it really does. The structure, the flow, the conversations, the decisions, the endless tweaking…. all of it feels very much like a living piece of work.
I am spending hours on it, occasionally pulling my hair out over it, and thinking about it far more than is probably healthy. But in the same way a painting or a long piece of writing slowly reveals itself, the site is doing that too.
So yes, at the moment, this is the art I am making. And apparently the medium is organisation, patience, and caffeine 😄
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::My own answer to this, to start us off…
I am currently wrestling less with ideas, and more with energy and focus.
I have plenty of things I want to make and write. Too many, if anything. What I find difficult at the moment is sustaining momentum without burning out, especially when creative work overlaps so heavily with running platforms, managing people, moderating discussions, and keeping everything ticking over behind the scenes.
Some days I feel very clear and capable. Other days, the noise creeps in, not doubt about ability exactly, but a sense of mental clutter. Too many tabs open in my head. Too many responsibilities competing for the same quiet space creativity needs.
I also notice that when I am creating for others, or for structure, deadlines, expectations, I am fine. When I create purely for myself, I can hesitate more than I should. That is something I am trying to be honest about, because it is easy to hide behind productivity and call it confidence.
I am not stuck creatively, but I am learning how much I need boundaries and slowness to protect the work I actually care about.
I am sharing this not for advice, (although that is not something I am ever averse to) but simply to name it. If any of this resonates, you are not alone, and you do not need to fix it before speaking about it here.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::Yeah, tripped over one of these recently just a couple of blocks away. They wanted €5000 for a three month showing. Nuh!
Sadly, that’s very common now. Once the fee hits that level, it’s usually clear the business model isn’t about selling art at all. You made the right call.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::that is a very powerful example, and a sobering one. Robodebt is exactly what happens when systems designed for efficiency are allowed to operate without understanding, context, or accountability, and when human judgement is treated as an inconvenience rather than a safeguard. The human cost of that failure should never be forgotten.
You are absolutely right that the same flaw appears in content moderation and censorship systems. They are not neutral arbiters. They reflect the assumptions, blind spots, and values of the people who design them, often stripped of empathy and nuance once automated. When applied to art, the result is crude binaries: nude equals sexual, body equals indecent, context equals irrelevant.
What worries me most is not just the silencing of images, but the silencing of discussion. When AI shuts down conversation because it cannot distinguish between exploitation and expression, it reinforces cultural discomfort rather than challenging it. That is how we end up with a society that is technically “protected” yet intellectually impoverished.
Your phrase says it perfectly: we need far more I and far less A. AI can assist, but it should never be the final authority in areas that depend on human judgement, ethics, culture, or lived experience, art being a prime example.
Thank you for bringing such a serious and humane perspective
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰18/12/2025 at 10:27 in reply to: Women Artists Still Hidden in Plain Sight: Why Visibility Hasn’t Yet Become Equality #49574Abbie ShoresParticipant::That’s more or less what I was meaning Abbie – I just sort of drifted off into the more general rant about the current scene because I’m finding it frustrating. The ingrained and institutionalised discrimination is not in question in my mind – makes all of us poorer.
I appreciate you engaging with it so thoughtfully.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::Hugh, I think you’ve described the dilemma perfectly, and very honestly.
What you’re touching on is the difference between seeing flaws and being useful. Many of us can see what’s wrong in a piece within seconds, technical issues, weak composition, lack of intent, but that doesn’t automatically mean we know how to articulate it in a way that helps rather than wounds. Your instinct to step away rather than deliver something that feels patronising or cruel is, in itself, a form of kindness.
I’d also argue that not every work is asking for the same thing. Some people genuinely want technical critique; others are still at the stage of learning to see, and blunt honesty there can shut someone down entirely. Silence can sometimes be more ethical than “accuracy”.
Your second example is equally important, and often overlooked. Dismissive comments like “just a normal photo of X” are not critique at all, they’re judgement without effort. They tell us nothing about why the work fails to move the commenter, and they ignore intention, execution, and context. As you say, they can be oddly blind to composition, light, or craft simply because the subject appears ordinary. That kind of response isn’t honest critique either, it’s lazy.
So yes, it is a fraught area. But I think kindness in critique doesn’t mean pretending everything is wonderful, nor does it mean silence at all costs. It means asking:
– Is this comment invited?
– Is it specific?
– Is it something the artist can actually act on?If the answer is no, caution is probably the right instinct.
Your comment is exactly the sort of thoughtful reflection I hoped this post might prompt, so thank you for taking the time to articulate it.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::When AI steps in and simply blurs or bans all nudity without context, it’s not clarifying anything. It’s replicating the very biases the article was critiquing: the idea that nudity is inherently indecent rather than a legitimate artistic subject with a rich cultural lineage. That over-simplification is frustrating for artists, scholars and audiences alike precisely because it avoids engaging with why nudity in art has been so contested in the first place.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰18/12/2025 at 00:13 in reply to: Women Artists Still Hidden in Plain Sight: Why Visibility Hasn’t Yet Become Equality #49568Abbie ShoresParticipant::Hugh, I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your comment, and I agree with you on one point very strongly, the contemporary art world has developed a rather exhausting obsession with trauma, ugliness, and performative obscurity, often at the expense of beauty, skill, and quiet depth. I think many artists, regardless of gender, feel alienated by that.
However, where misogyny enters is not in malice, but in inheritance.
The reason most people’s minds jump to Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and so on is not because women were not producing work of equal power, but because women were historically excluded from academies, patrons, exhibitions, guilds, inheritance of studios, and even the right to paint certain subjects. History then recorded who was allowed to be visible, and that visibility compounds itself over centuries.
There is a long list of extraordinary women who are now only belatedly being reinserted into the canon, Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola, Judith Leyster, Berthe Morisot, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Hilma af Klint (who predated Kandinsky in abstraction), Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois, and many others. The fact that they are not instinctively named is not a reflection of their importance, but of how effectively they were sidelined.
What still persists today is that same mechanism in softer form. Women’s work is more readily labelled as “decorative”, “pretty”, “craft”, or “illustrative”, while male work is framed as “serious”, “challenging”, or “important”. Beauty itself has been feminised and therefore devalued. That is not accidental.
You are also quite right that many contemporary artists, including women, struggle to reach a wider stage. But again, exposure is not neutral. Networks, gatekeepers, collectors, critics, and institutional validation still skew male. When a woman does break through, she is often framed as an exception rather than part of a lineage.
So yes, the fog is real. But it is not equally thick for everyone.
Misogyny in the art world today is rarely overt. It lives in what gets remembered, what gets taught, what gets funded, what gets reviewed, and what gets quietly dismissed. And that is precisely why conversations like this matter.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::That is very well put. Clear, considerate language makes an enormous difference, especially as many of us have very different thresholds for what feels “direct” or “too sharp”. I agree entirely that critique should focus on the work rather than the artist, and that offering it only when invited is the safest and most respectful approach. Tone is everything in these situations, and we all slip from time to time. What matters is that we try to meet one another with clarity and kindness, so the intention behind the critique is not lost.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::Oh I love the beach and that photo reminds me of all the greatest days. I’ve decided to go to the coast this week!
Isn’t that the idea of art? To remind. To reach. To create dreams?
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::She needs a golfing cart for those
I have tried a few cameras, but unfortunately you need to know numbers or go auto. So I gave up
Now I use cameraphones and have a Pixels Pro and an iPhone Pro
First image was a Canon whilst I tried to learn how to use it
2nd image is one of my smartphones (one of the androids I have had)⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::Switzerland. Nearly all of my childhood holidays were spent there. The journey itself felt like an adventure: the ferry from the Hook of Holland, followed by the train through the Black Forest, complete with Agatha Christie–style corridors and little cabins until we finally arrived in Interlaken or Lucerne. At the station, a horse and carriage would be waiting to take us to our hotel.
In the valley beneath the mountains there was a small dressmaker’s shop. At the start of each holiday an order would be placed for a cheesecloth top, hand-embroidered with exquisite care, ready to be collected on our last day before leaving.
Postcards awaited me when I returned home, supposedly sent by one of the beautiful cows I had met on walks through the Alps with my grandparents.
They are blessed memories, a quiet notebook tucked away in my mind, from before life grew complicated and the world shifted.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipantAbbie ShoresParticipant::Thank you for sharing so openly, Ludwig. What you describe really resonates with many who’ve experienced burnout, especially the sense of carrying everything alone and not feeling supported or acknowledged. It’s completely understandable that your energy and motivation have been drained.
Taking a step back, as you’ve done, is sometimes the best and only option. Giving yourself time and space without pressure can make all the difference. Your awareness of what led to this point is already a strong step toward recovery, and it’s good to hear that the article gave you a sense of hope.
Be kind to yourself during this pause. Whether it’s a week, a month, or longer, your wellbeing is more important than any project. You’re not alone in this, and your contribution will be all the stronger once you feel ready to return.
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⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰⋱⋰Abbie ShoresParticipant::Thank you, John… your words resonate with me so much. I haven’t picked up a paintbrush for many months now, and like you, I’ve felt that lack of interest in what once came so naturally. Writing has been my outlet instead, but I know the feeling of looking at your tools and simply not wanting to begin.
Being part of a community is what keeps me going, too. OAM is my relax-and-be-happy place, a circle of new friends (even if I don’t know them yet). I’m so glad you’ve found the same kind of support over the years on FAA / Pixels, and I hope OAM will continue to be that friendly corner where we all remind one another that it’s okay to pause, and that creativity always finds its way back in time.
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