This is from 2015, how I've grown in understanding my self-worth since then. My friend Amy Neiwirth @sweetstellaoh (check her out, she's amazing!) took this picture at independents' day festival in Columbus, Ohio. I wanted to share with you all this lesson I learned. I proposed a payment of $1000 for work at the festival and was told that $250 was the limit. It took me 15 hours to hang this piece and I had to secure my own lift, which thank you Chris Sherman, you are the absolute best. I also spent two months fabricating the work. They had no proper signage for my name so I had to make it myself last minute. I should have just said no to this project and i did say no to being involved the following year. To artists out there, it's ok to say no, it's ok to walk away. I wanted so desperately to be involved in my community and to give what I could, but in doing so, I lost so much. It felt pretty awful to be paid so little for so many hours of hard labor. And I don't feel guilty anymore for asking for what I need to survive in this world. I understand that sometimes we donate our time and our work, but I am asked to do this quite a lot. Pay artists fairly, this installation was a huge hit and I'm glad the public enjoyed it, just wishing I had stood up for myself. We are laborers just like any other job, we work hard. Want this to be an art city? Pay artists what they're worth. . . #art #artist #artiststories #artmakescbus #idfest #columbus #614 #614art #artfestival https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOLb4HAIu_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=szs2nkn1mzkx
