#mugmuseum

it would probably be more specific and nuanced and accurate to say i am “suspicious of the notion of role models”

i think the idea of role models encourages us to think of people in absolutes. i think it sets us up to have false and unfair expectations of a person. i think it sets us up to be disappointed – either in someone we conceived of in our minds as infallible, or in ourselves for not being able to live up to some hopelessly specific ideal. i think it subtly encourages us to consider our selves in someone else’s image and on someone else’s terms, which i find extremely dangerous – isn’t that the kind of thinking we should be fighting against?

there’s personal stuff here. i didn’t have role models growing up. i didn’t have anyone i thought was worth emulating. what i had were pieces of different people’s careers and personhoods and ideas that i found exciting and invigorating. what i had were people like jeremy denk and stephen hough who made me feel like there was space for a classical musician to articulate themselves as much through intellection as through “simply” playing their instrument. what i had were asian-americans like vijay iyer who made me feel like there was the possibility of my art engaging with its social space. what i had were theorists like muñoz who conceived of the relationship between performance and queerness as a dance of endless possibility

this, in my view, is far more interesting than simply having “role models.” all of these things, these “possibility models,” to use laverne cox’s term, encouraged me to synthesize and analyze and clump together anew. and that is a thrillingly endless process

Diolch Welsh Music Prize for the nomination!

Are You With Me Now? (Cate Le Bon):