We recently connected with Henny and have shared our conversation below.

Henny, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I have always been a late bloomer. I started school a year early, so I was a year younger than all my classmates. While that might not seem like a huge deal, this has been one of the defining experiences of my life. I always felt that I was playing maturity catch-up, constantly trying to prove that I belong among my peers. These formative years created a lot of self-doubt in my life, which inevitably led to shying away from my natural interests as a shot in the dark attempt at being accepted. I was a naturally curious (and anxious) kid, always looking to escape to the dream I had in my mind since I would deny myself access to these possibilities in my reality.

As a child, I would naturally create, but intentionally kept the artist side of me a secret out of my fear of judgement. Every so often, I would muster up the courage to show my work to those around me only to be met with difficulty convincing them that it was my own, original work. I had a weird relationship with art because I figured, “If nobody believes I’m doing it, why am I doing it anyway?”. That, paired with social comparisons to my artistically talented peers and that pesky aforementioned self-doubt, led me to taking only one art class in high school career and writing myself off as “uncreative”. However, my innate desire to create led me to other creative pursuits, developing a genuine passion for design, photography, videography, and pretty much any other medium that would allow me to mold my vision into it.

For so long, I was blind to the light I had inside of me. Rather, I was willing to put it out all together in exchange for staying under the radar. The imaginary limits of my reality conditioned me to fight against what I would always naturally come back to. As I would create over the years, I made a habit of downplaying and/or hiding my work, abilities, and achievements for fear of being ridiculed. I thought if I cared too much or made a conscious attempt at taking myself seriously creatively and my work was not well-received, I would look like a fool. So, as a defense mechanism, I would flirt with expressing my creative talents as a hobby or silly thing only. That way, if it was labeled “bad” work, I could play it off as something I didn’t really care much about anyways. But of course, the truth is, I always cared.

In 2023, I lost someone. This loss impacted me on several levels, most of which I’m still sifting through, but it significantly changed me as a person. To cope with this, I found solace in the usual suspect: my creativity. This time was different, though. I started drawing and painting again and, for the first time in my life, I was consistent with it. I think the main effect this event had on me was the loss of fear in many aspects of life, but especially with my creative practice. I have come to believe that this is because I was finally making art for its intended purpose – to guide me through understanding myself. As someone who has always turned to someone else’s art when I needed to get through something, I finally understood that I was the artist I needed all along. This came as a shock to me as I built my entire life around the whole school, more school, then job thing we are all taught is the only way to success. But now, I’m at a point where not creating feels contradictory to my true, authentic self.

A lot of times, I find myself wishing I never would have allowed what others might think to stop me from exploring the creativity that is so true to my nature. I often think of where my life and art would be if younger me would have continued creating in the face of the imaginary doubters my mind made up to scare me into a life of monotony disguised as “safety”. At times I get frustrated because, although I probably would have had to face similar fears, at least I would have had a formal art education to support me instead of taking the more taxing route of teaching myself everything. While these thoughts can be difficult to accept, I also understand the greater purpose for my life. It may sound cliché, but I needed my life to pan out the way it did to be able to create the art that I do, in the way that I do. Through life experience, I have gained access to the deeper parts of myself necessary to create meaningful work. Best of all, I became a jack of all trades in the process of finding myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is not important, but I go by henny, or just “H.” sometimes. I am a self-taught, 29-year-old multidisciplinary visual artist who’s still just figuring it out. Another way I like to describe myself is a multidisciplinary multipotentialite. I feel a strong tie to that word because it feels limitless, which is also how I feel about myself. I also think learning is the coolest thing ever.

I have been a creator all my life, however I began taking my creative practice seriously in 2023. My pursuits span across mixed media, sculpture, photography, videography, painting, digital art, graphic design, and whatever other medium has piqued my interest at the moment. My work is unique in that it does not pledge its allegiance to any specific time period, style, or set of rules. It also is constantly malleable as it is heavily influenced by my environment at any given moment. Being intentional about curating an eclectic environment has been the best asset to my creativity.

In August 2024, I had the honor of exhibiting my art in a group show for the very first time. That was the first piece I ever put on display for public consumption, so it was nerve-wracking to say the least. That experience ended up being the catalyst for a lot of positive changes in my life, both personally and creatively. Personally, it helped me chip away at my fear of judgement, which I hated to admit was a crutch of mine. Creatively, it helped me prove to myself that my art belongs out in the world, staring at real people instead of the four walls of my studio.

The main thing I hope my creative practice helps others realize is that being your own, super specific version of a human being is the coolest thing you can be. If you have a thought or idea, your first instinct should be to fearlessly explore it without questioning why or how it got there. My ultimate dream is that my work inspires other people to create without boundaries.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

From a young age, society had convinced me that “good” art versus “bad” art is clear-cut rather than subjective. For too long, I thought the only valuable art styles were those already popular in the eye of the general public. Why else would they be so widely known, right? In this, I completely disregarded the genius of so many avant-garde art styles hidden in the underground. Through my own cognitive restructuring and exposure to the intricacies of the art world as I matured, I came to understand that art styles and opinions are endless. The most important thing is that you are contributing inspired, meaningful work to the world. The second most important thing is that you are always doing your best. Unlearning this unlocked my creativity because I finally believed I could create whatever I want, and that my art does not have to fit in a box.

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?

I think a lot of people, especially non-creatives, struggle to understand that getting to that eureka moment where you realize you are a creative has no time limit. Your creative journey also has no start or end, like anything else in life, and is instead a story of constant ups and downs. Many people think that if success is not had by your early to mid-twenties, creative pursuits are a waste of time. What’s worse is even more people believe that if there is no guarantee of society’s definition of success (money, notoriety, accolades, etc.), it is not worth pursuing in any capacity. They could not be more wrong. Also, the idea that hobbies must be monetized in order to be “worth it” is an outdated and incorrect concept. Once more people understand that art is a soul practice, the better the work – and the world – will be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hennydreamworld.com
• Instagram: henny.irl
• Other: henny dream world, the over-arching name of my creative pursuits, is an open-ended ambition of mine. there are many different, fluid facets of it, but the current ones may be found below:

  – henny sound lounge: music blog (IG: @hennysoundlounge)
  – TOPiAN magazine: (IG: @topianmag)
  – free parking: fashion / culture / mood board blog (IG: @free__parking)
  – THE BEST OUT: gym brand (www.thebestout.us) (IG: @thebestout.us)

  these are also all featured on my website: www.hennydreamworld.com