Issuu

The Art of Noticing

I find myself looking back to the time where I would sit beside my mother, on our couch back in Laguna, while she was doodling her random artworks on a large piece of paper

Her drawings consistently had flowers on them, a colorful palette, and beautiful patterns. And so for as long as I can remember, I have always carried a question inside me:

"Why can’t I do that?”

As a child, I constantly asked my parents, while we would proceed to laugh because I was not able to get my mother’s “artistic genes ” Yet, as a young adult, I asked it in frustration. Growing up despite attempting to do so I never knew how to paint, draw, nor even sketch a single object or person

I admired the people around me who knew how to make “art,” especially my friends who even owned accounts on social media—posting their respective fanarts for celebrities or television shows. Some knew how to dance, sing, and act in theatrical shows.

I, on the other hand, was merely watching from the sidelines continuing to admire them. While my young self, from the back of her mind, would also see her elementary school teacher laughing at her for doodling the worst flower she has ever seen.

Mymother–photographed byyourstruly.

“There

Ultimately, this was exhausting, and I wanted to do something that I would enjoy myself to halt the exhaustion of trying to belong. Somewhere along the way, I wanted to learn how to say that what I wanted to do in life was enough.

art,” what I would tend to tell

Looking back, perhaps I was too harsh. I wanted to be like everybody else I wanted to also sketch my favorite celebrity, be able to sing the song I have always wanted during karaoke nights, or even dance how backup dancers in music videos would do so My question was not: “Why can’t I do that?” But rather, “Why can’t I do what they were doing?” “There is no doubt that I do not have a gift for art,” is what I would tend to tell myself.

Then one day, I realized I wanted to do art. Not the way they did, but to do it my way—to make art that was enough for me.

In theory, art is a creative expression of human experience We encounter art everywhere, from those aforementioned hobbies of others, nature, buildings, animals, and more But for me, the point of art isn’t just to choose the perfect sketch or paint like Van Gogh I see, even the smallest mundane things, to be art. That is where I believe where the magic lies in art. Art is present in my daily life as I can do it, decide where and how to do such art, and so can everyone because it is everywhere. Art is for everyone, and the people who are pressured to fall into the traditional mediums must realize that they can do art how they decide it to be Therefore, I can now see the environment around me, the people on campus, and even the books laid down on my study desk to be art

In practice, I took up the hobby of photography just recently Taking photos has been a habit of mine, without realizing back then that it can be considered as art Now, seeing that art can be defined as universal and being able to encounter it everywhere, photography captures those moments and preserves such moments to memorialize it. It is an enjoyable hobby that I could do every once in a while, without anyone else pressuring me to create the perfect photos. I found it to be quite simple and convenient, as I could just take out my phone or camera and snap photos from there Nevertheless, it is an art that I love doing, and will continue to do so as the years go by

It is me showing “sketches” or “drawings” of my life, with no teacher laughing at my photos, no social media standard I have to meet only a click of a camera and the satisfaction of a memory being saved

Thus, I used to think art is not present in my life However, now I am aware that both my hobby photography and my appreciation of the world around me is already art. Overall, art is subjective to how one defines it themself, but this is how I define art I now know art is the ground I walk on and it is also in my habit of snapping a photo because the sky looked a certain way.

So, when I look at the camera in my hand and the world in front of me, I finally have an answer to “Why can’t I do what they were doing?” I can now do art, my way, by seeing that it is present in my life and field through the simple act of looking, the courage to be enough, and the joy of capturing the magic in the mundane

MadebyAnne (Voluntad)!