The importance for me doing art

When I arrived in the UK, I couldn't get a challenging job. I still can't. I refer to previous posts why. After 6 months being out of a job, I just started taking on small personal projects, like building a table or coat hanger. In August that year I decided to build a transformer out of cardboard in the style of the old school cartoon. I made it transforming out of a lasagne package. It took me quite some time to figure out how to do it, because there is limited space in a lasagne package to fit all the robot parts in and manage it to transform. Eventually, I got it working, but more important, I had a goal and something to get my teeth in. A few months later I suddenly decided to buy some clay and a month after that it felt right doing it.

If I wouldn't be able to create a goal, or a meaning to exist to put it more dramatically, I would have wanted to go back and continue my old job. Art for me is not just to be occupied, but to challenge myself mentally and intellectually. That I am not earning a lot of money isn't that important and that is an important realisation to have in a relationship. If one person brings in the money, the other might need to have other goals or challenges.

So if we are trying to get more equality between men and women, it is important,  to consider the position of the not-earner. The better the not-earner feels challenged, the more acceptable it becomes not to earn that much.

How did I come to this story? Well, I found the transformer while packing for when we move house. I am fallowing my main earner to where she got a new job. One of the other reasons I am doing art; to be able to move flexibly and continue what I am doing where ever I go.