We were lucky to catch up with Elena Borum recently and have shared our conversation below.
Elena, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I don’t believe there is a fast way of learning anything. I understand what I do today, I am able to do what I am today, and do it well because of the time it took. I always used art as an expression for myself. I dealt with poor mental health for the first time in Middle school and would draw what I felt. As I moved along I got in to photography, where I learned a lot about symbolism. I continued on into high-school with digital arts and doing pencil drawing at home. In terms of 2d art, I only ever did still life and portraits. My junior year I finally took 2D art. My dilemma was that I had so many interesting ideas but I had such a hard time making them come to life with my medium. One day we tried water color and, to be honest, I killed it. Ofxourse, I’ve grown alot since then, tried new techniques. But, I just remember being so literal about everything. That’s not to say I feel like the art was bad or shallow but, seeing how my art has changed, even now seeing how my ideas have matured, I can see through my art how much I’ve grown. I don’t think skill is needed in art. I used to think in order to be a good artist, the image had to look real. For me, the most important thing I’ve done is introspection and the only obsticle ive had is lesrning how to portray what I wanted it to. Like, I can feel sad and paint a sad person but what color will he be? Should I make abnormally long? I learned to think, how can i many this piece convey all the the unique oddness that comes with this situation rather than creating another dictionary type sympol for the word we all know that feeling by. You cant make anything that has any depth without a thought. Even if you make art thats meant to be silly, there has to be a punch line, a meaning to it. That all comes down to character and how you see the world and choose to reflect that back, not skill. The ability to convey something without exact replication of that thing is one of the most beautiful things a person can do. But, yes, I feel like my art can’t have been what it was and what it is going to be without the time it has taken to get there. I feel very lucky having been in a house hold where my creative side was valued and fostered because I have this kind of personal timeline now. It’s all my memories and my feelings, it’s almost like looking at pictures of my life but its a timeline of my thoughts.
Elena, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My mom is an entrepreneur. She took a leap of faith in starting a business and that was very inspiring. That with the general support of friends and family I decided to finally get my DBA and start selling my art under the name ByeByeMe. I’ve always been embarrassed of my art. So ByeByeMe is a play on the term “by. Me” used in anonymous literature. Instead I used “bye bye” to embody my own mental health struggles. All of the pieces I have coming up are about much more personal things than my early paintings. So, in whole, ByeByeMe represents the chipping away at your personal being from trauma, its me saying goodbye to myself. Under that name, I sell prints of my art on various materials; canvas, metal, mugs, bags, etc. I want the pieces to feel surreal and heavy. I want them to be easy on the eyes but for them to be beautiful, but heavy on the heart. Because that’s what these moments were for me, horrible and wonderful. I dont feel like theyre meant to be loving space dosplay pieces, especially some of the new ones i have coming. Theyre mewnt to be more intinmate viewing, something tonlook at and reflect. To be honest, I feel like what sets me apart is that I don’t care if people by my art. I don’t care if they like it. Art reaches the people it needs to reach. I appreciate people’s support as much as the next person but I absolutely don’t need it where I am today to make art. I dont need the validation of another person or use that validation in anyway to shape what I want to make. I actuallt have never had any intention of pursuing art professionally. Im a college student and a store manager. I ultimately want to teach. With art my goal is just to make people feel seen. Its the same reason i want to teach. I feel like i have a lot to pass on. I do make things for fun, ofcpurse. I’m not all doom and gloom lol. But I do think it’s important that if I’ve found a way to express the complications of a feeling or a moment, that I should share it. Because I never know who else out there could be trapped with a feeling
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I have been such an asshole. Growing up I could be so incredibly hateful, angry, and defensive. I had resorted to cynicism as away of dealing with the world and the shittiness in it. The story as to how I got there is a long one. Unlearning that mindset was equally as painful and confusing as learning it. Becoming who I am now I contribute to a lot of trial and error and it wasnt without its moments of falling right back into bad habits. The most important thing I’ve gained is to be open. At mt worst I had good friends, teachers, and other peers that tried to guide me wnd though I didn’t always want to change, having those voices gave me something to try doing rather than what I currently was. So, I would eventually hit my rock bottom and be forced into some healthier habits that I gradually adopted. After that, life kept on swingin’ how it does qnd I made some really poor choices that at that point I had the foundational experience to have known better. Despite my screw ups, having been exposed to healthier sides of things everytime I screwed up I learn, “hey, I actually really don’t like feeling that way amymore”. Today, when I get impulses or I feel myself start to slip up I’m able to acknowledge how much healthier I am.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
It’s impossible to create something to be understood without understanding what it is you want to be understood about. Very deep. I know. It’s my bit. But really, it doesn’t come down to creativity sometimes. There are plenty of very technical artists that make beautiful and expensive pieces. Knowledge is your best friend. Not always academic but like how the technical drawer learned to be that best at the medium, learning more about yourself helps you express yourself. I don’t meet many people that are in tune with themselves or the world around them and not knowing what’s going on makes the ride lose so much meaning. People miss so many things just coasting through taking everything at face value. An artist who do photo realistic portraits appreciates the way the light hits your cheeks in a way that someone else won’t even notice. Knowledge and time on different planes opens our eyes to these small beauties and patterns life hopes to show us!
Contact Info:
- Website: byebyeme.shop
- Instagram: Instagram.com/by3by3m3