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Writer's picturenj fox

AITA

Updated: Jul 3, 2023

September 2021

*published in Mouth Magazine in 2021.


I had an art teacher once

Who said all artists are assholes

And when I first heard it

I was skeptical

Maybe he was projecting

Maybe he'd been screwed over

Maybe it was just personal

But the longer I spend in art school

The more I realize

We're all self absorbed pricks

Who have decided our voices

Our passion

Is worth burning the world over

Am I the asshole?


 

I was inspired by an art teacher I had in my first year at SAIC. At that moment in my journey I saw myself as a writer - I was not any kind of artist. I was observing the culture and the social norms of the art world as an imposter. When my teacher said "all artists are assholes" I didn't believe him. But as I continued my assimilation, I realized how true his statement was. I had had too many interactions with selfish people taking advantage of me and as a people pleaser it was exhausted being around people who would just take and take and take without ever giving back. I had gotten fed up and written this with the Reddit forum in mind.


I hold this piece dear because I've had a lot of real conversations come from publishing this poem in Mouth Magazine. The editor was the one who suggested formatting it to look like a Reddit post, which is very successful for the message.






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