Community Over Competition

thoughts on creative spaces and the work we make

Community is something we all search for, a place where we’re accepted, loved, and seen for who we are. For artists and makers, that sense of belonging can be vital. Community gives us connection and conversation, people to exchange ideas with, to learn from, to create alongside. It gives us support, grounding, and a sense of safety that we can’t always build alone.

an old piece from 2022

I just recently re-shared this piece on instagram with a few paragraphs discussing community over competition, but I felt the need to explore it and write more on it in depth.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase “community over competition” and what it really means. We live in a strange digital age where we’re constantly flooded with new work. Trends happen, and suddenly people jump on the same bandwagon for the sake of sales, views or internet points. People say, “nothing is original anymore, so it doesn’t matter,” and one well received piece can quickly lead to a wave of lookalikes.

Overlapping themes and motifs are natural, and everyone has to start somewhere. Sometimes artists unknowingly & unintentionally create similar work without ever seeing each other’s pieces. and that’s completely okay. There’s nothing wrong with it, especially when both artists are being true to themselves. With so many makers out there, it happens more often than you might expect.

But knowingly creating work that’s a direct copy someones is not okay. Just because something goes viral or shows up on Pinterest doesn’t mean it’s free to take. And if multiple people start to say, “Hey, this looks a lot like a knockoff of ___’s work,” instead of getting defensive it’s worth pausing, asking why that might be, and truly sitting with that feedback for a bit. especially if you’re selling your work. To clarify I am not talking about doing studies of works to learn about techniques and such.

I’ve also noticed “community over competition” a phrase meant to bring us together being weaponized. It’s disheartening to see it turned into a way to shame artists who defend their work. Instead of taking responsibility, the offending maker can twist the story, painting the artist they copied as gatekeepy or as an enemy of community simply for speaking up.

This year, I’ve seen small businesses talk about supporting artists and shopping small while causing harm within the community they aim to uplift. Just this month, a friend of mine was at a holiday market and saw someone selling exact knockoffs of another artist’s earrings, claiming the design as their own. The pieces were identical side by side. The original design was very unique, mixed metal, and complex…….this wasn’t accidental…it was intentional. My friend gathered the courage to confront them in person.

Conversations about copying and influence can be really awkward, socially vulnerable & super uncomfortable. Sometimes the person doesn’t see the harm in what they are doing, or simply doesn’t understand why their actions are causing harm. Now, with AI entering the mix, these issues feel even more difficult to navigate.

For example last year, an artist reached out to tell me that a piece I’d shared in my stories felt uncomfortably close to something they had recently posted.

They were worried I was actively stealing their idea, especially since their work has been copied many times before. We ended up having a long, and thoughtful conversation about our influences and how we each arrive at our imagery. My work stems from years spent in the wilderness and the relationships I’ve built with the land, plants, and critters here. Theirs comes from their own very personal journey.

We had started from entirely different places, followed our own unique paths, yet somehow landed at a somewhat similar visual destination. Neither of us was in the wrong.

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Derivative vs Inspiration

• Derivative: Based on or directly copying other sources; mimics style, composition, or closely replicates an original, lacking personal meaning.

• Inspiration: Using elements as a visual aid to create something new, or blending multiple references into a work unrecognizable from the original source.

We are a collection of moments, creativity for many is an ongoing collaboration with the world around us.

It’s more than okay to be inspired by others! I’m constantly being inspired by my close friends, peers and the world around me. As a visual person I find it very hard to go out into the world and not be inspired by something, im constantly getting little glimmers of motivation to create. What matters is what you chose to do with that spark, how you tend to it, shape and sculpt it until it becomes something uniquely yours, reflecting your own voice.

Community over competition means genuinely respecting and uplifting the people you create alongside, being willing to have real and sometimes very uncomfortable conversations. It means putting in the honest, difficult, vulnerable work, and staying true to yourself as an artist. Why try to be like someone else when you can be yourself? The work you create from your own truth is far more meaningful than anything copied from another.

I’ve seen my fair share of drama and conflict in creative communities, it never leads to anything good... it’s hard not to get defensive when something so personal is taken from us, as well as having our financial livelihoods are on the line or when we see our friends’ work being copied. I haven’t always responded perfectly either, I’m a socially anxious awkward human, and I make plenty of mistakes. I’ve been told im too blunt or critical, But growth, learning and becoming better are very much part of being human.

Your own work has value, There is space for everyone’s creative voice.

By practicing honesty, compassion, and respect, we can build communities where artists thrive, feel safe, and are celebrated for the work only they can create.

Thanks for taking the time to read critters <3

-Holls

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