We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Mari a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alex, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?
I think one of the most beautiful aspects of being an independent business owner is the amount of freedom it affords you. Freedom to truly live the life you’re simultaneously working very hard for. It can be incredibly rewarding, as well as motivating. When you’re working for yourself you know that 100% of your efforts are devoted to creating a lifestyle dynamic that actually suits you. That being said it doesn’t come without it’s unique challenges, Some months you’ll be overwhelmed with projects and opportunities, and other months it’s significantly more quiet. You develop a muscle for meditating and settling into the uncertainty very quickly. Ultimately it’s not always easy, but absolutely worth the adversity. When you find yourself in the middle of the work week, crafting your own schedule, taking spontaneous opportunities as they arise, and soaking in beautiful moments with the people you care about, the unconventional route reveals itself as the most practical thing in the world.
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.
It’s always been about conveying emotionality – I’m enamored by the power of experience and the way that art allows us to create experiences. I’m a photographer and art director by day, but really it’s all summed up in the idea that there should never be a limit on what mediums we use to convey the ideas we’re interested in. I love any body of work that can conjure up a sense of feeling. My interest is in guiding the viewer through an emotional journey whether that be through photographs, short films or creating a world stylistically for others to get lost in.
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?
Finding a happy medium between incorporating my art with a structured business. They’re two very different worlds, and I think we’re seeing the burnout that comes with marrying the two reflected on social media every day. Artists confining themselves to rigid marketing strategies and buckling under pressure to create routine batches of work. I’ve learned the importance of incorporating my artistic sentiments as a photographer, but not getting caught up in the idea that any work you do for pay is in fact “art.” It’s incredibly relieving to know that my purest artistic expression can now live in a space that isn’t confined by clients or ROI. They’re just two separate landscapes that get to intersect, and with that in mind everything falls into it’s respective place.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My personal interest in artistic expression changes and develops almost daily. It’s very much a living process that has a lifeblood of it’s own. I can say the one consistency over the years has been that I find myself drawn to a common thread – using art to express the raw intensity of living the human experience fully. Including pain, pleasure, beauty, loss – all of the things that make us who we are. Beauty revolves around dichotomy. It’s the foundation that will always be present in any work that I create, as well as what kind of work I find myself drawn to.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.alexmariphotography.com
- Instagram: @alexmari_