When I picked art writing in my second year of my Bachelor’s degree, I considered it the lesser evil. Like ripping off a bandaid, it was a subject I had to pass in order to move forward.
I have never been one to write about art, and I will admit, that I had my prejudiced opinions. It wasn’t until after reading Zadie Smith’s essay titled “Some Notes on Attunement,” published in The New Yorker. In the essay, Smith explores this concept of how we can “attune” – the process of opening oneself up to a new experience, idea and / or art for that we may have once rejected. Zadie Smith reflects on her own personal journey with Joni Mitchell’s music and how initially she disliked the singer, admitting the first time she Joni’s music, “she didn’t really hear her at all,” Z Smith, 2012.
Instantly upon reading Zadie Smith’s essay, I was transported back in time to a memory from my childhood. It was the heat of Australian summer. After school pickup and I was sitting in my Mum’s white Toyota Corolla as she dictated Missy Higgins’ album The Sound of White would be our soundtrack for the ride home. I remember the disdain and hating the whine of Missy Higgins’ voice. I wanted to listen to my So Fresh: The Hits Of Summer 2003 CD.
As a dramatic six-year-old, I vowed during the agonising ten-minute ride home that I’d never like Missy Higgins. My mum just laughed, knowing I’d change my mind one day.
Sure enough, seven years later, I was in the cinema watching Tomorrow, When the War Began when Missy Higgins’ song Steer played. Something stirred within me hearing the first few notes and song lyrics. Leaving the theatre and in the weeks that followed, I found myself devouring every album Missy Higgins had put out since with a newfound appreciation for her music and voice.
It was just as Zadie Smith described—attunement. The moment of opening yourself up to what you once dismissed. In the same way I had in my second year of my Bachelor, art writing shifted my cynical view of towards visual art.
Art Writing is not about the cold response of critiquing visual art but rather, opening oneself up to the work. It’s about listening, feeling, and letting the work resonate in ways you never expected. It’s about embracing the rawness of your own response that the art stirs up inside of you.
The irony is not lost on me that in May 2024, I travelled with my Mum and sister to Bendigo for Missy Higgins’ The Second Act Tour 2024, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Sound Of White album. My mum couldn’t stop smiling all the way home and I, despite myself couldn’t either. I couldn’t help but laugh at that little six year old version of me who was out of her mind for not liking one of my favourite singers.
