Family Changes
Dealing with family is hard. And I'm not just talking about "everyone home for the holidays in a house thats too small" hard, I'm talking about the “ever evolving relationships within a family” hard. I come from an extraordinarily close family that has made me into the person I am today. Both of my parents love and respect me and will do anything to help me and my siblings succeed. And my siblings, even though we relentlessly pick on each other as siblings will, always manage to show that despite our differences, they understand my interests.
My siblings are athletes, I am not.
I am an artist, my siblings are not.
Eventually my art practice started to solely revolve around my family. I became facisnated by the changing relationships that I held with each family member. When you are younger the biggest disagreements you had with your siblings were which toys to play with; the biggest disagreements you had with your parents were how late you were allowed out. But as you grow and mature these arguments change, especially when you are given the opportunity to learn and grow outside of the family dynamic.
My siblings and I are very close in age, we all moved away to college within five years of each other. And it has been my experience that college is truly the first time that you are able to think freely about how you want to form your adult life. As I spent more and more time figuring out who exactly I was and what I valued in my life, I noticed that my siblings were doing the same. And that we did not hold the same level of importance on certain things. Whether it be politically or socially (as these happened to be the most pressing issues as of late). Part of that had very much to do with where we went to school and who we surrounded ourselves with. I am constantly surrounded by artists and those who think like me, same goes for my sister and brothers in their respective fields. I was so caught up in my own growth and maturing, I forgot that they were trying to do the same.
I definitely let this get the better of me at times. I was so confused that they could not understand my way of thinking, without realizing that they were not there to witness my growth while I was forming these thoughts. This goes both ways, I forgot that they now had their own lives outside of the intimacy of the family home. Each one of them went through experiences that I will never be able to understand. Which is AMAZING. I often found that I had to remind myself that my interests and opinions were no better than theirs. Mine were just different then theirs.
I don’t want this to sound as though I am mourning the loss of a close knit family. Because we very much still are that family. My siblings and I are fortunate enough to understand the importance of family, regardless of differences in ideals. I will never be able to get my brothers to hold the same interest in my artwork, but they will never get me to understand sports.
Families are about give and takes, and it took me longer than I care to admit to figure that out. But now, knowing that, I can only hope that the relationships that I hold with each sibling and parent continues to grow and benefit each of my family members.
