Creative Futures - How I make a living from Death.

How I make a living from Death:  Violet Fenn

Violet Fenn runs a website, is self employed and makes a living selling hand constructed jewellery. This all sounds normal enough until we discover that she also collects photographs of dead people and collects them on a website. We’re not just talking about any old dead people though. It’s a form of photograph that died out with the advent of better healthcare. Victorian cadaver photographs were a way for families to remember the fallen and keep a likeness of their children, pets, grandparents close by. Sometimes editing them so the eyes would look open. But dones with complete devotion and love. We might not understand it today. But when placed within this context it makes perfect sense.

Many children didn’t live long enough to get a photograph taken, and death was merely the last chance a parent might have to immortalise them.

Much like life (and this entire blog) we must be very aware of the fact that our career plans are not always entirely reliable. Sometimes you will find yourself doing bizarre things as you collect starfish in a bucket, wondering how your creative writing diploma managed to get you into such a position in the first place.

We can only be sure that sometimes things don’t work out. But we can coax it into going our way if we’re willing to make friends, get a good reputation spreading about us through word of mouth. Which is why you should never argue with anyone over the internet. A bad reputation is sort of like a bad smell. Let it linger and soon people won’t want to sit beside you on the bus, let alone buy repurposed starfish necklaces off you.

While it is important to maintain a good reputation, it’s also very important not to be regarded as boring or dull. It’s okay to be a bit odd. In fact, being a little strange and kooky will draw people in. Rather like a freak show of old, they may poke you with a few sticks, but the chance of getting a little coin off them is worth it. The possibility of them gossiping about you is even more valuable as free advertisings since it can be expensive. Be vaguely interesting and people might even stay.

If you can find a way to get ahead with very little then you’ll make a bigger profit in the end. In the case of us illustrators, selling the illustration for over one hundred pounds is very nice. But it’s even nicer when we didn’t spend twenty five pence on the paper to begin with and we found the pencil on the floor somewhere. That’s not to say you should go around robbing art supply shops or rummaging in bins. But being savy and getting the best possible deal from everything will make your earnings seem bigger and you can buy more of those delicious chocolates I mentioned a while back. Maybe even a frappichino and a swivel chair constructed from panda pelt.

The best possible advice I was given during the course of the weeks proceedings was this: Take an accounting course. This may seem unusual but bear with me. I generally know a lot more about art than I do about accounting. In fact numbers are my main weakness and I’m suddenly reminded that a life of self employment looms ahead like a spectre, and it brings with it adult pastimes like taxes, accounting and wearing matching socks. These things are very important. I could put together a professional portfolio and get hired by Marvel comics much faster than I’d ever understand insurance forms or mortgages. It’s a reminder that eventually we must all start to become adults. It’s a very welcome reminder too. Especially considering I hadn’t been aware accounting courses were actually a thing that existed.

The most important thing in all of this is to be curious and keep learning. Even if it does happen to be about doing your accounts.