Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Britney Vu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Britney, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is illustrating a children’s book called Listen. It encourages readers to pay attention to their internal dialogue, how to distinguish negative and positive self-talk, and the voice of intuition from each other, inviting readers to choose which voice they give energy to. Illustrating the book was deeply meaningful because the opportunity was presented to me when I decided to return to making art/pictures. Since childhood, I’ve loved making pictures, but societal conditioning made me believe that art wasn’t a realistic career. That, coupled with self-comparison, made me tuck the desire away and move on to other things in life, but I always felt a pull to listen to my heart and make art again. So, even though I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and I had to learn a lot along the way, I said yes to helping bring the book to life.
At the time, I wasn’t fully aware of it, but the book mirrored and supported me in dealing with many of the internal challenges I was working through. I struggled with really harsh, negative internal dialogue growing up, which played a huge role in the choices I made and how I felt about myself or the art I made, etc.
Naturally, as the person drawing images to match the story, I had to read it many times and sit with the meaning behind each page. It helped me identify and observe what was happening internally so I could shift how I treat myself, the choices I make, and the grace I hold for myself and others. We all deal with some level of negative internal dialogue. It’s part of a shared human experience, yet it’s hidden and mostly not something others can witness, nor do we have many spaces in society for it to be talked about openly, which can be incredibly lonely.
When the book came out, it sparked many conversations with many people who were reading this book to a child. They’d share how emotional it made them while reading because it created an awareness of their internal dialogue and the pain it was causing them. It was as if people didn’t know they had a choice in what voice they give power to (negative, positive, or intuition), and seeing that they do have a choice created an internal shift in them.
These conversations, the stories people have shared, and my own journey in illustrating this book inform my work today and the space I hold for our shared, hidden human experience of what’s happening internally. This project helped me learn about how important it is for us to talk about our internal psychological experiences, like how negative internal dialogue operates from a place of fear, disempowering us to keep us in our comfort zone. My work is about expanding past our comfort zone, observing what’s happening inside, and taking our power back to become the best, healthiest, empowered versions of ourselves.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Britney, but I go by Bri. I am a visual artist who mostly paints. I’ve always been a creative and a maker at heart and love all kinds of mediums to express myself (oil pastels, colored pencils, collage, fashion, makeup). Art is an act of expression and joy. It took me years to value and prioritize fulfillment and joy and has become an essential of living.
Like most people, I was focused on finishing school and starting a career that would pay the bills. All the while, I noticed how bored and dissatisfied I felt with my life; nothing I was doing felt like it deeply resonated or mattered.
I started questioning the feeling: Is life really supposed to be like this? Is there more or something else I can do to make it feel more fulfilling and meaningful? But it seemed like this was the norm. Almost everyone I knew was dealing with the same kinds of feelings – that’s just adult life. (insert shrug here). The more I sat with the feeling, the more the quiet voice inside me got louder calling me to make art and paint pictures. It wasn’t just an activity that I wanted to do sometimes on the weekends; I wanted to breathe art and make it every day, so I’m on the journey of making it into my full-time job.
My work is mainly about our shared human internal world experience. Recently, my work has focused on dream work. I’ve been studying my dreams for years, and a couple of years ago, I began painting them to understand how they communicate so I can interpret them. Dreams are messages from our heart/intuition, offering us a tool to help us navigate through waking life, like an internal compass we connect with while we sleep. I’m so fascinated by the dream experience, and I want to help others tune into their dream’s messages, leveraging this tool to connect more deeply with ourselves.
Our dreams point to all these hidden aspects of ourselves, peeling back layers to help us confront our fears and pursue our deepest desires and fulfillment. Life should not just be about existing and adulting. We must be willing to look at the darkest hidden parts of ourselves so we can grow and be more present to fulfillment and joy. Everyone deserves to have those be a part of their lives.
You can find paintings and prints for sale on my website, britneyvu.com. You can keep up with me on Instagram @britneyvu_ where I also share content to help others learn how to interpret their dreams.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Share their work and the impact it has had on you with others and respect their work by giving them credit for it. Hold consideration and reverence for the vulnerability and courage it takes for an artist or creative to share something from within, even if you don’t fully understand their work. Art gives viewers an opportunity to connect on human to human level, to feel deeply, be expressed and seen. We need that in an age when we are so deeply disconnected- from ourselves, each other, and the earth.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the connections and conversations that come from my work. I never know how my work will be received because when I’m in the midst of making, it’s mostly for myself. But when someone reaches out to share how it impacted them or makes them feel, it inspires me to keep going and it makes me feel connected to them even if I don’t actually know them in real life. It’s a really powerful feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: britneyvu.com
- Instagram: @britneyvu_