The beginnings of a creative professional
Changing minds
Changing times
I grew up in Kenya, at at time when the creative scene wasn’t a quarter as dynamic as it is today. I didn’t know of any creative professionals who were making a great living from their craft. I didn’t even know that there were so many potential paths for somebody wanting to pursue a creative career (and to this day I still keep learning of more)!
Fast-forward to the present moment when one of the projects I’m working on involves a team that includes a Design Researcher, an Interaction Designer, a Business Designer and me, a Communications Designer!
Art or science?
The unconscious wisdom of youth
Although my architecture decision didn’t stick, I did still go to a specialist art school for my higher education. Something rather shocking to some, in a society that expects people with excellent grades to be doctors and lawyers. I’m so grateful for my supportive parents who are, in many ways, anomalies for their generation.
I can’t say I had a clear vision of why art school – even years into it and afterwards! It’s only now that I can appreciate that unconscious wisdom of my younger self.
It is now, almost 20 years after making that decision (and several more that were equally confusing to some people such as: going from art school to pursuing an MA in African Studies and; the fact that an African needs to study African and Africans…), it’s so clear, to me, how everything has come together.
Getting to the root
So what’s at the root of your interests and passions?
We need more creatives…
… and this includes you!
Often, the first step to appreciating something is empathy so, I want people who don’t even necessarily consider themselves as being creative, to unlock the creativity that is no doubt within them. It’s in us all!
This is some of why Afri-love Fest exists and writing all this I realise that, on some level, it’s a movement :). I hope you’ll join us !
Related reading:
5 reasons why design matters: An argument for African parents, businesses & other skeptics
4 thoughts on “Why I became a creative professional”