As Sweet Mortal, I find making weird art removes any pretence of having to be normal. Normality hinders creativity. Experiences that don’t fit into neat little categories can be expressed. I don’t make traditional art, I don’t make conventional art. Who said I have to?
I have a creative education, but I’m an outsider. Mixed race, female, disabled, from a working class background. Mental ill health, trauma, addiction. You could welcome me into the space, but I’ll be at the gallery anyway. I don’t have to justify that I’m in the room.
Momento mori. In the mean time, weird art can make us feel at home. Collect weird art, make weird art, discover what makes you unique. Tell your stories, write your poetry. I know it’s helped me. I create because I feel I would be lost without my ability to do so.
Sweet Mortal is a moniker for the awareness of life’s finite nature, and in that we can find sweetness. I should know, they call me Candy. My surname, a slave trade name, is from the dyers of black fabric. When I create I oppose this history. Yes, I dye materials with natural dyes too, there’s beauty to it. I don’t scrub out my name because I have transmuted it.
Poetry, prose, collage, textiles, paintings, stencil prints, lino prints, fashion, embodiment… These are the means for expressing the ideas and concepts that intrigue me. I cultivate weirdness, and weirdos are welcome here.
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