Do I have to turn forty to become an artist?

copyright: Dorothée King

King, D.: Do I have to turn forty to become an artist? published on medium, 2021.

I had to learn to leave my stories behind. The kind of stories about your life you tell yourself over and over again until you believe them. And still they are only stories and as such exchangeable. Of course there are also stories around art schools. What is your art school story? Why are you here? Today I wanted to tell you mine: My grandfather wasn't allowed to study art because he was partly Jewish. He had to leave high school early, in 1930s in Wroclaw, former Prussia, now Poland. He couldn't live his dream, but had to become a factory worker. This story left me with a mission: Because I was the artistically talented one in my family, I had to study art to get it off the family check list. A likely story, isn’t it?

https://dorotheeking.medium.com/do-i-have-to-turn-forty-to-become-an-artist-d482f4d0f6b0