The Gift of Being Yourself

The sooner you uncover the ancient roots of your being, the sooner you arrive to being an artist in the truest sense.

It’s quite funny when I think about it but the more and more I am myself, the more it feels as though I’m truly playing the ultimate role; the role of being myself.

You find yourself walking a path that feels good because you’ve brought things that bring you joy into your present.

As I sat in the theatre foyer at Hoopla! HQ in London Bridge, I found myself again noting to self, “life is a struggle, yes, but oh for God’s sake, (it’s not blasphemous if it feels true), why are we not enjoying every waking moment being our-full-100%-selves?” How delightful it feels to swim in the warm shores of self”.

I’ve spent so much of my life down-playing and de-Louise-ing myself. Reducing, repressing, diminishing myself so that I could fit in - like clunky, stiff flat-packed furniture, taking extra care as I bolted on extra screws of people pleasing and reducing my literal volume.

But alas, the path of acting has once again saved me, (as it has done in many ways); the work I do through the Meisner technique alone, (you can read about the most surreal and memorable acting exercise I’ve experienced to date here), enforces that an actor must learn how to remove their own mask in order to be able to adopt the mask of another (unless perhaps surrealism is what you’re going for).

Image by www.thecollector.com/what-makes-salvador-dali-so-famous/

As someone who has been somewhat obsessed with the artist’s process over the last 5 years, I have come to the realisation that the more you uncover and embrace the ancient roots of who you are, the sooner you arrive to being an artist in the truest sense.

You can listen to my conversations with various artists here (on Apple, Spotify, or via our Slowcooked Productions website). In them, I explore the question, “What does it mean to be an artist?” prompting discussions that dig into the rich soil at the bottom of their being, as I seek to uncover who they are as artists, as much as what the “artist’s state of mind” might look like.

I’ve often looked ahead and imagined the future-future me, and the only wish she seems to ask for is that we live with no regrets.

So perhaps you’d like to join me on this journey?

It’s not an easy path but that’s because, I believe, it’s there for us to earn it. So we can harvest the reward of being ourselves - a wholesome, personalised hamper that’s available to all.

I suppose now is as good as time as any to share a video I recorded last year on an incredible, miracle-brimming trip to Iceland - it happened to be Solstice and radiating with light around the clock. It also happened to be the informal wrap party of the King & Conqueror cast and crew and I had popped home because I had felt this need to express something, I didn’t know what exactly, but something was bubbling up inside me. Without overthinking, I set my Grandad’s 00s panasonic camera on top of the kitchen surface aimed towards the table and chair where I’d be sitting and pressed record:

P.S. this week I started a Creative Process 💫 channel on Instagram which is an extension of my own creative practice. It’s my way of sharing more of the inspiration that comes my way and an invitation for you to reflect and share your thoughts for our individual and collective growth as artists.

Love from,

Louise Kim Salter (full name for full self)