top of page

Seeking change? Invite failure along

Seeking change? Invite failure along

Perrin Carey

2 April 2021 at 12:00:00

We all find ourselves at some point to be change seekers. What we realise, when we are trying, is that it's our own openness to vulnerability, which is the key to change.

We all find ourselves at some point to be change seekers. What we realise, when we are trying, is that it's our own openness to vulnerability, which is the key to change.

If we want to change things for the better.

If we want to shift the status quo or alter to a different course, we have to invite failure and rejection.

I visited the National Gallery today and although sadly the Renoir painting of Moulin Huet was not there, I had the chance to re-engage with a canvas I admired as an art student; Georges Seurat’s, Bathers at Asnières.

This is such an iconic piece; created outside the edges of mainstream Impressionism.

Seurat, having been rejected by the Paris Salon and rather than participate in conventional exhibitions, formed with a group of other artists the Société des Artistes Indépendants. An organisation with neither a jury nor prizes.

It was simply about breaking new ground.

When we seek to create,

We have to be open to the possibility that not everyone will want to come with us.

We have to realise that we may well be rejected and even ridiculed for our intended direction.

We may even have to not just carve a new path, but invent the tools needed to plough the trail.

Failure, in an uncertain world, is already progress.

bottom of page