I have been trying to figure out what to do with Artiscado for years now.
The name came from a flippant comment I made about wanting to grow ‘Artisan Avocados’ in UK using hydroponics on top of skyscrapers and sell them to restaurants in London. This all came while I worked for a luxury appliance brand and after a trip to New Zealand where I learnt all about avocado farming. I won’t tell you about the random avocado farmer’s son I met in Ibiza a few years later, that’s a story for another time.. anyway, back to ‘Artisan Avocados’…I just really liked the phrase to be honest. I knew that at some point, I would use it for something. Then it got shortened to ‘Artiscado’ by my best friend and I’ve sat on that for years.
This space used to be a place for me to talk about ‘issues’ or things that mattered or were current in the zeitgeist. It’s not that I grew weary about talking about what mattered to me…I appreciated those that followed me and those that wanted to hear what I had to say but really, I don’t think I knew what was really me. Yes, was it important to talk about climate change and human rights, of course but outside of writing about it, I wasn’t attending protests or lobbying. I was just giving my opinion. And I don’t know why but suddenly I just felt the need to stop. I couldn’t find my voice. Personal trauma in my own life adding to this feeling of having no voice or a voice that no one really wanted to hear and so I became quiet and wrapped in my own bubble. My bubble that was my life with my two small babies. My two boys and my husband.
and until now…I had no clue what to do with Artiscado. I thought it may remain completely dormant.
Then I became a mum and lost myself completely in my boys and everything that being a mum meant. One of the things that I stopped being was ‘creative’.