Why I refuse to be overly affected by the rejections my work has recently faced
I graduated in 2014. Since then, I have been able to take part in over twenty international and national group shows and screenings. My images have also been shown in two solo exhibitions. But for the first time in my career, my work has met with virtually nothing but rejection for over six months. I mean, it’s been rejected many times and I’m sure it will be again in the future, but it’s never been rejected to this extent in such a short space of time.
If this had happened to me a few years ago, I’m sure it would have made me nervous, even depressed. In fact, a ‘no’ would make me sad for weeks, whereas a ‘yes’ would only stay in my mind for a few days.
To say that this recent accumulation of rejections doesn’t make me doubt my work and its quality would be a terrible lie. It’s even worse when I receive a ‘Unfortunately, your work has not been selected’ when I really thought it matched the theme of the exhibition. I can’t help wondering what went wrong. I know that my work isn’t perfect and that I could improve it. In fact, I often tend to look at my photos and think that I could do better. Yet part of me is still unaffected by these late rejections and it took me a while to understand why.
I always tend to see only doom and gloom. So, in this situation, it’s easy for me to imagine that this period will be endless and that no one will like my work and exhibit it again. But, in reality, I think it’s just a phase that will come to an end one day. I believe (and hope) that curators and gallery owners will be happy with my work again and that all these rejections are just a series of bad coincidences (the series I have submitted have already been exhibited in different places).
I’m not religious and I don’t believe in any gods, but I do believe in destiny and in the fact that everything is written and happens for a reason, even if that means we have to go through good and bad things. That’s why I think there’s a lesson to be learned from these rejections. Firstly, it’s a way of questioning my work (without rejecting it completely) and seeing how I could do better. I also have to remember that there are tons of artists on this planet and that exhibitions can only show a few of them. For example, the last show I applied to was looking for only 4 artists, whereas the board members received over 300 submissions. I think these rejections coincide with the fact that I need to move on to other projects. I like the series I’ve submitted, but I also think it’s time for me to concentrate on the other two series I have in mind and get them made. In fact, I’ve recently come up with some new ideas that I really like, so I’m taking the time to see how I can organise everything. It’s so good to be full of ideas and creativity!
So, even though every rejection has been bad news, I’m happy to feel the way I do today (while hoping that I’ll be back on the exhibition circuit soon). I’m happy to no longer see the glass as half empty, I finally feel like I’m growing as an artist. There’s a voice in my head that says: ‘It’s sad, but don’t focus on it too much, get ready to work on other projects instead’.
If you’re an artist, how do you deal with rejection of your work?
