Fear creativity

There are fewer words more loaded than ‘creativity.’ Saying it to people – even in organisations who live and die on its effective use – is like shouting ‘Voldermort!’ at the Hogwarts breakfast bar. I’m not exagerrating either. It’s massive.

I remember going into an exhibition in TATE Modern and ducking, fearing my head was about to be knocked off by the word MOTHER, which hurtled towards me. A 3D, 25 foot long installation of the word was a conceptual piece to represent the intimidation children can feel towards the matriarchal figure. If it had been ‘CREATIVITY’ they’d have needed an aeroplane hangar to house it and do the seismic connotations attached justice.

People just don’t understand it. Even at the top of the creative industry. Those attachments to artistic talent are unbreakable. It ruffles feathers, placing crushing pressure on people who are very much creative, but shun any notion of wearing the label because their perception of what a creative type is is so far from the simpler truth.

Anyone can be more creative.

When you break it down into lighter words such as ‘playful, silly, imaginative, making, flippant, energised,’ people are far likelier to step forward and express themselves.

If you can associate a word with feeling, culture, ideas, and lived experience, then it clicks, and becomes more than something people have been convinced they are not. Something that should not be named.