Inés Rodriguez shared this beautiful video recently, titled “The most underrated art there is: the art of noticing.”
In the video you see humans, and even animals, doing non-extraordinary things. There are people dining, seen through a window. A dog is at his door, looking out through the balcony. There is a young person writing in a journal (making you wonder if this is a love note to themselves, a grocery list, a dissertation, or possibly something that we will read one day that will be incredibly profound.) These are things we experience every day, yet we are drawn to it when it’s slowed down and brought to our attention in an artful way. It reminds us that there is so beauty to be seen in the “every day”, but we don’t slow down enough to take it all in.
That’s the job of art. It forces us to slow down. One, as the artist, and two as the observer.
The other job of art is to not have a universal experience when viewing it. How I feel, as I watch two tables of older men playing cards in a cafe, will probably be different to the next viewer. That’s why art is so subjective and so damn beautiful; we get to take what we want from it and leave the parts of ourselves we long to let go of.
The first time I swam in the Mediterranean Sea most likely felt very different compared to the person who lives there and experiences it daily. I got to see it, feel it, taste it, hear it, and smell it for the very first time. This is art. Experiencing life is art. Not only is it art, but it’s one that is fleeting.
I had so many messages with people commenting on how beautiful the video is and how they try to do the same in their own lives and in their own art.
After all, isn’t art about noticing the very things that make people feel seen?
How does this all tie into the experience I want my clients to have, through the art I create WITH them?
Rob Walker writes, “Being creative — whether you are an artist, designer, writer, entrepreneur, or engaged in work or play that falls anywhere on the spectrum between those ideas — begins with noticing what others have overlooked. Whether that entails spotting problems that need to be fixed, underrated phenomena that should be celebrated, or hidden-in-plain-sight mysteries that demand explanation, it means tuning out distraction and engaging with the world.”
My favorite part of what he wrote was, “Being creative begins with noticing what others have overlooked.”
When I became a mother I felt incredibly overlooked and isolated. My entire pregnancy was spent being fawned over, making sure I was okay, doctors checking on me, etc. After I had my daughter it was no longer about my health, my needs, my wants, or my mental health. Even women who aren’t mothers are often overlooked and the ones who take care of everyone else in their lives.
My promise with each woman I photograph is that I’m going to bring them into the light. There is no more hiding. There is no more telling yourself that your family comes first and you’ll stay in the shadows.
Is it uncomfortable? ABSOLUTELY!
Is it necessary for growth? YES!
The purpose of my art, my WHY, is to take women through a process where they begin to notice the beauty in themselves that THEY have overlooked. When you find that, you stop searching for it from others. Yes, we still want to be noticed and seen by those that you love, but you don’t NEED it when you find it for yourself.
So many of us are drawn to videos of people “noticing” because we walk around feeling incredibly invisible or perceived in ways we don’t want to be perceived. Boudoir, or “intimate portraits” are a way of taking that power back and taking up space.
Take up the space. You’re worth being noticed.
