Make Your Soul Grow

By Maria Le Du

I was watching my three-year-old niece sing and dance the other day. Barefoot, in the living room, words to the song half-mumbled and half-made up, her dancing a clumsy sashaying to and fro. And it was beautiful. Not because it was an accomplished performance, but because the pleasure it gave her made the whole a radiant experience to behold.

We all sang and danced and told stories when we were little. We drew, and glued and painted and acted and performed, unconscious of concepts such as audience, acceptance, evaluation and review. Unaware that it may be art. We only did it because it felt good.

Which brings me to the wise words of Kurt Vonnegut:

“If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

So go on. Take a shower so you can sing. Turn on the radio so you can dance. Call a friend to tell a story. Go to the keyboard to write a poem. Create something.

Installation view of The Obliteration Room as part of 'Yayoi Kusama : Look Now, See Forever', Gallery of Modern Art, 2011 / © Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

*Kusama made a totally white room and gave colored dot stickers to all the visiting children who stuck them wherever they wanted.