I like to think art welcomes the ugly with wide arms and creaking joints, stretching to fit what others say is too big. It offers a microscope to investigate your flaws, and when you see what you don’t like, what scares you, what hurts, it ushers you, “Look more. Look longer. It's quite alright.”
I like to think art is an excavation. A dive. It is the discovery of a hidden pool--a hot spring surrounded by towering rocks. The artist submerges themselves into something private. Floats in a sensation that may perhaps, momentarily, be known only to them. Lays naked upon the water, shielded by stone, tucked away as they think, and eventually dry off to go create. To draw a map leading back to that little pool, and presenting it to the world when ready: “X marks the spot, let me guide you there. Come swim with me.”