Shop in my Suitcase (The Introduction)

I am a nomadic artist. This realization dawned recently when I had to compile a document for an exhibition – which I cancelled two days ago due to space concerns. I wanted to label myself as an outsider or isolated artist, but a friend and colleague told me that nomad was the word I was looking for. To reach the point where I started seeing myself as a nomadic artist took a little bit of time, I have to admit. During the last 14 years of my life, I was frantically busy – like every one of us I suppose – trying to make life work and to keep my mental faculty intact. Living life clutching a suitcase, with alert perceptive abilities – which all creatives and other sensitives definitely possess – can be tough, exciting, challenging and lonely.

Somewhere in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

To be honest, all my life I have actually been a nomad. I hail from the Kalahari region, and we went to boarding school. The suitcase came with hostel life. When you are raised on a farm in South Africa it is simply a given that your life will be chopped up into chunks: you will be on the farm over weekends and holidays and then you will be at school far away. Your suitcase became your survival kit. It contained everything you needed: clothing, love tokens from your parents and some sweet treats or biltong to make school life bearable.

Drifting in the Red Sea near Jeddah.

Before I forget, I need to mention David Hockney, the British artist who passed away recently. He is one of the artists whom I admire. I appreciate his work and the energy with which he engaged with his surroundings. I watched a few videos which were released after his passing and he said of himself, “I am an observer”. Upon hearing these words, I immediately applied this statement to myself. I do realize that all artists could call themselves observers, but there are nuances of style or evidence in an artist’s work which should support or accompany such a label. I felt Hockney and I shared a similar outlook – which was another "label" I could or wanted to add to my own stance as a creative.

Somewhere in China.

I started my career as a language teacher in the Western Cape. Left teaching. Studied other artistic expressions. Started teaching art in Pretoria at a faith-based school. I frequently went to our Kalahari farm, which is our family base to recharge and obviously I travelled and the suitable suitcase was a quiet partner. All my life I have been conscious of the fact that I had to be present fully (because the moment is fleeting) and perhaps subconsciously record the instant because my life is or was not happening in one fixed or designated location, but it had to be lived in two separate locations: my personal preferred noisy city space and then the quiet life in the Kalahari where there are other privileges but no coffee shops and art galleries. It may seem that I am resentful, but that is not the case at all. Each one of us, makes peace – eventually – with the life God has carved out for us. We accept our mission on earth and our responsibilities and if it is handed to you in suitcase or as a suitcase, you simply move along.

A recent outdoor exhibition in Mbombela.

Creating art, like Hockney and other artists, was my way of keeping the seemingly disparate parts of my life together. I photographed, created and then travelled with my expressions. I exhibited in Pretoria and sold some works at local galleries. Then came 2012. My nomadic life took to the skies. I accepted an art teaching job abroad and then my perceptive abilities were tested and my mental capacity stretched. Why am I being so dramatic here? The truth of the matter is, I became aware of the intense burden I carried as an artist and I assume other creatives who can associate with me, may share it too.

Laughing with my colleague in Jeddah.

How do you record a new big wide world that you are exposed to? The impulses, the music, the food, the friends, the new vistas and novel experiences can indeed become overwhelming. As an observer, I wanted to record these ecstatic moments. It is obviously impossible to record one’s whole life, but the creative process does allow us some opportunities to frame the most outstanding events or vistas, and you can buy a few curios to put into your suitcase for family and friends. Life abroad made me aware of one of my weaknesses: input fatigue. I cannot travel and travel and see and see. I have to travel and then I need a repose. A time to unravel the travel and to create a few drawings or compose a song or create a video or two. I have an intense emotional response to new people and places; a time of reflection will diffuse the heightened state.

En route with a suitcase.

I started admiring people who travel without input fatigue as they fly from destination to destination. I simply could not do that – even if I had the means to do so. I have some kind of disability (?) or perhaps I must call it art-ability to embrace the moment and environments gregariously and then I need to take them home and process them and once I have done that, I may be ready to grab my suitcase again. However, as you can imagine, there is a problem here (and we could suffer inwardly). Life is fast and sometimes due to obligations and work-related issues, we don’t have time to process these large events we were exposed to. I think I may call it visual congestion or memory overload?

I think this was in Suzhou, China.

When one is a nomad or an expat, one becomes even more conscious of the “chopped up” realities of one’s life and I am speaking for myself here. One flies thousands of air miles to be with loved ones and when one is an artist one is also constantly trying to bridge these worlds in one's head, I believe. Life abroad added a new style or a way of expressing myself in my art, namely: documenting foreign cultures. Recently I was forced by circumstance or occasion to scrutinize my own art practice, and I was a bit taken aback by the fact that my artist career had produced five distinct styles and this could be perhaps largely attributed to living life as a nomad with a suitcase in hand. How did the shop enter the title, Shop in my Suitcase? I think I will have to discuss these issues in the next five blog posts. This may be exciting, because I need to make a few issues clear to myself during this literary journey which I started today.

My art world consolidated.

I have to consolidate all the exciting and even alarming issues which my life as a nomad and creative produced, because it appears as if I may use the suitcase less in the near future; my nomadic life may become the foundation of the next phase, God willing. So, we may have another discussion soon and remember there is ART in your heART.