Back in March, as the pandemic started and the world went into lock-down, I had grand ambitions for all the reading I was going to do this year. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan. It turns out that months of social isolation and uncertainty made my brain pretty mushy, which made reading feel almost impossible. (I’m sharing this because, if you’ve been struggling to focus or get work done, I want you to know you’re not alone.)
Fortunately, my brain seems to have emerged out of the fog and I’ve managed to tackle some fantastic books over the last couple of months. And since I just got back from a week of camping (where I plowed through three of the many books on my to-be-read pile) I thought I would share some of my recent reads.
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
This is the book that broke my reading block, and for good reason, because it tackles issues that are relevant to all creatives (and actually all humans) especially now. This book was part of my pre-pandemic book buying binge, but it wasn’t until members of Artists and Profit Makers started expressing guilt for not working All. The. Time. that I knew I needed to dive into this one.
I would situate Do Nothing somewhere between two of my favorite reads from last year, Digital Minimalism and How to Do Nothing. Do Nothing is more pragmatic than How to Do Nothing, but more relatable (at least if you are a self-employed woman) than Digital Minimalism. What sets Do Nothing apart from both books is its exploration of the ways that capitalism makes us feel guilty for not working, and how we can combat that.
If you’ve ever felt guilty for not working on your creative business 24/7, and you want to get to the root of why that is, this is a must read!
And Then We Grew Up by Rachel Friedman
If you’re looking for an easy read that will make you feel less alone in your creative journey, this is definitely the book for you. In fact, it parallels a lot of the discussions we’ve been having lately in Artists and Profit Makers, from the belief that you need to work on your art 24/7 or you’re not a “real artist” to the idea that selling art is subjective and sometimes your hard work doesn’t always pay off the way you want.
While And Then We Grew Up has more of a focus towards performing arts and writing, since those are the domains of Friedman and the majority of her childhood art friends that she interviewed for the book, many of the concerns and insecurities ring equally true for visual artists. I frequently found myself thinking of some of the struggles I see in members of Artists and Profit Makers as I was reading the book.
An an artist in the age of social media, it can often feel like we are the only ones struggling with doubts and insecurities. But And Then We Grew Up shows that we aren’t alone, while also giving glimpses of how to live a good life as an artist along the way.
The Social Photo by Nathan Jurgenson
I’m always a fan of books that cast a critical eye on social media, and I was especially intrigued by this book since it focuses on photography as the basis of social communication, as well as looking into the lessons we can learn about social media from the history of photography as a medium.
While I don’t agree with every idea in this book, particularly the critique of people who are critical of social media for taking us out of the moment (because Jurgenson ignores the fact that most time on social media is still spent not creating images, but consuming them), there were still lots of insights.
The most interesting for me was the examination of photography fitting the roles of scribe and poet – meaning images that are meant to inform versus images that are meant to evoke. While this is an oversimplification of the role of photography, I’ve been seeing this tension play out in students taking my Sell Without Shame class as I encourage them to explore photos of their work that are more evocative than informational, and Jurgenson’s book helps frame the struggles I’m seeing.
As someone who was happy to see the rise of social platforms more focused on images than words (hello, Instagram and Pinterest), this book is an worthwhile addition to our understanding of the role those images play not just on those platforms, but in the way we approach our lives.
Sensuous Knowledge by Minna Salami
I first learned about this book from Toi Smith, and I’m so glad I did. Sensuous Knowledge gives voice to some of the ideas we’ve been talking about in Sell Without Shame, most notably that the idea that our experience of art needs to be reflective and intellectual, rather than visceral, emotional, or sensorial, is a product of Europatriarchal systems.
Sensuous Knowledge isn’t a business book, but it’s still a valuable resource for any artist, maker, or creative business owner who is a seeking a different way of being in the world, one that privileges empathy, beauty, play, intuition, soulfulness, and a host of other traits that are essential to the arts, but that we feel like we need to leave behind in order to build a successful business.
Sensuous Knowledge shows that many of the things we’ve been taught about the world aren’t universal truths, but rather products of Europatriarchal Knowledge, and makes a convincing argument (one I hope many artists will be happy to hear) for a shift towards Sensuous Knowledge (rooted in Black Feminism) instead.
Beyond the Periphery of the Skin by Silvia Federici
This is another book I learned about through Toi Smith, and while it also isn’t a business book, I’m including it here, because it was perhaps the most eye opening book I’ve read so far this year. Like Do Nothing, Beyond the Periphery of the Skin is critical of the capitalist system, but this book goes beyond capitalisms impact on our work habits and instead explores its impact on our bodies (particularly women’s bodies) in a myriad of ways.
Beyond the Periphery of the Skin is the most academic of all of my recent reads, so if that’s not your style, you may want to steer clear. But since it is broken down into a series of essays, I still found it easy to read and finish in a couple of days. (This was one of my vacation reads, because, you know, I like to keep things light when I travel.)
Still, if you’re interested in the ways capitalism has impacted our notions of work, particularly as women, as well as an extremely eye opening understanding of the ties between capitalism and organized religion, this book is worth a read.
When I started Designing an MBA over ten years ago, it was certainly with an emphasis on reading and learning as much as I could about business, and in particular, how business could be applied to art. But as I’ve learned over the years, it’s often the not exactly business books and the not exactly art books that have had some of the biggest impact on the ways I think about, teach, and do business.
And my most recent reads certainly reflect that.