Pain and Art

Shortly after Arnold and I met early 2020 I asked him what his source of inspiration for his art was. He answered with one word:

"Pain".

As human beings we all go through pain in our life. Physical and mental pain can have unforeseen, drastic, and sometimes unconscious effects on the life of every one of us. Equally, we all have a natural desire to be creative, to create art, to find creative solutions to new problems, to express our emotions in a true, authentic way. Many of us are struggling with either one or both aspects of art and pain. I started writing this blog out of the pain of grief that I am still feeling so strong after 1 year of Arnold passing on. I also started it because I have so many unanswered questions in my head and hearth that involve pain. Pain, I lived with Arnold, pain lived because of Arnold, pain I had caused or alleviated in Arnold during the almost 2 years our paths had crossed. The goal of this blog is to explore the idea of turning pain into creativity. We are seeking to understand questions like:

How can we utilize our pain to enhance creativity?

How does this process work?

What are the obstacles that prevent us from identifying and embracing pain as a source of creativity?

Is it ok to focus on pain, even get overwhelmed by it temporarily, to tap into a deeper source of creativity?

To what extent is it healthy to allow pain to persist in order to fuel our creativity even though there is a way to reduce it?

Can the transformation from pain into a creative process have positive effects on the pain itself, such as healing from physical and metal trauma?

If so, are people who make a living out of their creativity doomed to engage in painful behaviour in order to maintain the creative stream of work?

If our main source of creativity is pain, is it possible to identify more positive sources of creativity beyond pain, possibly though the creative process?

How can we tap into the pain of other humans, even humanity as a whole, in order to spark ideas to address humanity's most threatening challenges?