Creative expression and identity

Creative expression is based on both our inner selves and our abilities, so maybe it is not surprising if we question both our self concept and talents.

But our insecurities and doubts may not be just a matter of objective competence. For example, two actors noted for being able to create distinctive and powerful characters have made revealing comments about their own identity insecurities.

The late Peter Sellers once said, “If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am.” And Jennifer Jason Leigh [photo] has claimed, “As a person, I don’t really register that much. Director Robert Altman says that as a person I disappear in a way.”

Feelings about identity can also drive creative projects. Painter Laura Molina says on her website, “I feel the need to assert my identity in the most militant way possible… As an educated, native-born, English-speaking, fifth generation Mexican-American and a feminist, there is almost no reflection of me in the movies or television, which is almost as bad as being stereotyped.”

Stifling a need to create, on the other hand, can leave “a small hole in the fabric of our self-esteem” as Gloria Steinem puts it. Not creating can also be a path to depression, according to psychologist Eric Maisel among others.

Saying we “can’t” write, paint, perform on stage, develop a new medical test, or create in some other way is in effect not giving ourselves “permission” to have that identity.

Continued in my article Identity and Creating