If you are unaware, I host a photography podcast titled Ready for Mistakes. The name is inspired by the idea of the maturation of an artist, at which a point comes where the artist is ready to make mistakes. A prime example of this for me is Alec Soth’s Broken Manual, which he intentionally made “bad photographs” for. Often times, most young artists of any media feel this need to be perfect or damn-near perfect with their work, forgetting that not only are mistakes going to happen, but encouraged, and often times lead to better work, and in the case of Soth, were entirely part of the idea.
In the first handful of episodes, I was dominantly talking to friends, which is always a great way to start these kinds of projects. While of course that’s still on my radar, to talk to friends about their art, I have begun recording episodes with people I haven’t been too acquainted with aside form admiring their work from afar, and luckily, built new friendships out of those conversations for the podcast.
Moving forward in 2021 and beyond, I want to begin making the podcast more insightful but still maintain a casual environment. Moving forward, you’ll hear conversations about education, living spaces, culture of the areas the artist is from and based in, and much more. These are the things that influence artists beyond the actual consumption and creation of art.
In addition to that, I want to bridge Ready for Mistakes with Sad Bird. With each episode, I’ll be making some kind of artist issue, whether it’s showing work from that artist or a manuscript of the episode. I’ve wanted to begin making artist-specific zines with Sad Bird since I started the project. These bound pieces acting as counterparts to the episode can be a great way to provide some strong avenues for people to consume the art they make and look at how they think and see.
With how everything has been going for pretty much every artist ever these days, having these conversations becomes much more important to the community. Everyone is spending more time at home, spending more time with their work and thinking about it much more. These are perfect times to have these conversations and share them with other artists to induce thoughts on how the listener could improve their art.
A great example of another podcast that does this is Kyle McDougall’s Contact Sheet Podcast. Every episode raises questions and thoughts that I would have never considered. Especially Rhombie Sandoval’s episode, which completely shifted my view on my approach photography, giving me a mental push to work more on the why’s behind my work. I want this reaction with my podcast, as well.
I hope you all look forward to what this show and the corresponding zine publications will bring. I hope you all fare well in these trying times. As things around the country and around the world improve, I hope everyone’s art does as well.