Who is “her” and where has the love gone?

In the classic hip-hop track, “ I Used To Love H.E.R” by Common. Common raps about Hip-hop as though it’s a person, a woman. He breaks down his relationship with the genre and how it shifts and changes for better and for worse, but ultimately, he doesn’t recognise the genre he loved and grew up with. He no longer recognises “her.” The track ends with Common saying that he’s taking “her” back to nourish the hip-hop back to health.

I was listening to this song recently, and I realised I get it, this is how I’ve been feeling lately. Disconnected from creativity, however, photography hasn’t changed. In my eyes, “she” is fine! I think I am the one who has changed, I've lost my joy.

Ever since leaving my Master’s degree and being thrust into the world as a professional artist, creativity, for me, has shifted. Moving away from exploration and play to work and achievements, my spark is slowly going out.  However, I know this isn’t a new phenomenon, this quote from Carl De Keyzer tells me that “Too many great talents give up at the very beginning; the great black hole looming after the comfortable academy or university years is the number one killer of future talent.”

So my goal for 2025 is to find my joy. To try and remove the pressure to make “good work” and instead try to value the fun of it all. I am not taking “her” back, I feel like she has always been there, I think I am just letting her back in. 

With that in mind, here’s an image I  shot recently that, to me, screams joy!