Sparsely Vegetated Eyelashes

Written by Laura Ng

To my unrealistic, dreamy mind, the whole world is constricting art, binding it down with rules and regulations, dulling it with tutorials and guidelines. I know that most of these 'rules' are out there to help and to improve, but I can't help but feel that the arms and legs of art herself are being chained down, one by one. A photography magazine telling you that in the daytime, you're supposed to use this ISO, this aperture; an art teacher instructing you to hold the paintbrush this way, not that way; a music manager telling a budding songwriter that there needs to be a verse, chorus, bridge; an English major advising a student to have a rise, climax and a fall in every essay. All these things are supposed to assist and boost skills and talents, but I see them as rules and restrictions. 

To my unrealistic, dreamy mind, art is supposed to be a nimble, free swallow, perched on the tips of heaven's treetops, free to fly and flap it's wings of creativity. It's supposed to be able to do what it deems beautiful and true, not what is deemed right by the current rules. To me, this little swallow has been cruelly shackled by rusted chains of properness and structure. What teachers and professionals might see something to keep this little bird in check, in place and under control, I see as ghastly limitations on something that is meant to be unimpeded.

In my unrealistic, dreamy mind, I wish, with keys of imagination and passion, I could unlock the shackles that hold art down. I wish I could steer out of the orthodox path people have built for me and still triumph. I wish I could express myself in the way not regarded as correct, but in the way I regard as beautiful and true, and yet be accepted.