The Groove 144 - How To Turn Your Biggest Challenges Into Your Superpower
Welcome to the 144th issue of The Groove.
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HOW TO TURN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES INTO YOUR SUPERPOWER
If you’ve read The Groove for a while, you know that I focus the topics of each issue around the lives of deceased artists. People’s lives usually make more sense in hindsight. I do, however, frequently cite examples of modern entrepreneurs, whose attitudes and mindsets are so similar to those artists who made history. My point is to show that certain methods are timeless and effective regardless of their area of application.
But today I’m offering a different perspective, that of a living artist. I have just arrived in Malaga, Spain to celebrate the opening of José Campos’s solo show at Finca Cortesin Gallery, which I curated. Campos, who goes by the artistic moniker of Studio Lenca, pays homage to both his ancestors, the indigenous Lenca or "jaguar people" of his native El Salvador, and to a "studio" where he moves across disciplines.
José fled his country at the age of five in the 1980s to escape the violent civil war that had claimed more than 80,000 lives in El Salvador. Crossing the Tijuana border from Mexico to the United States by land with his mom has been one of the most impactful experiences of his life; one that has profoundly influenced the direction of his thriving practice, now based in Margate, UK.
What José has done with his life and career is a testament to the resilience of his spirit and a compelling case for turning your worst challenges into your strongest asset. These are three of the biggest takeaways from José’s life and work:
Find Perspective
José Campos (Studio Lenca) in his studio in Margate, UK, photographed by Sarah Bates in 2022.
Trauma doesn’t have to determine your life; however, resiliency can define who you are. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors.” It’s not that you should expect a life without problems, it’s how you respond to them what will establish your character and your work.
A few weeks ago, when I was on the phone with José to get our thoughts together for the text of the show, we spoke about the time he came to the United States as a young child. He and his mother crossed each country by car, buses, and walking. At some point after having reached Mexico, they ran out of money and had to live on the streets. But they had a “do or die” attitude that felt more literal than anything. When they finally arrived at the border, José’s mom hid in a crowded car boot, and he was handed over to a smuggler in another car. They were separated for two days in what seemed like the longest 48 hours for them both.
Installation View: I’m Working on Leaving (2022) Tang Contemporary, Seoul
When José recounted this story to me, there wasn’t a tiny bit of drama, resentment, or negativity in his voice. On the contrary, he fully acknowledges that this event, while traumatic, was necessary for their survival. Being on the other side of that border gave them many more options than if they would’ve stayed home. As he beautifully wrote on an Instagram post for World Refugee Day: “We took these risks in response to broken systems and the human right to live a decent life.”
When you can take a step back and realize that you have survived difficult things and that those things didn’t break you, you have won half the battle. The other half is finding the small positive things that move you forward every day and build on them over time.
Find Your Tribe
Installation View: Chisme (2023) Parrish Art Museum, New York (Photo: Kerry Sharkey-Miller).
Living as an undocumented immigrant in the Mission area of San Francisco afforded José the possibility of a strange freedom: on the one hand, undocumented aliens are nonexistent; on the other hand, being able to move around in a big city without the threats and perils of a civil war felt liberating.
By the time he was 13, José had asked a dance studio in his neighborhood if he could join the lessons for free, which they readily accepted. The freedom of movement and the encouragement from teachers to lean into his identity proved cathartic and alchemical. Something had forever changed in him. Dance was the door that introduced José to art. He danced on tour in other territories, even as far as England, where he got married. He is now established as a British citizen, where he received two art degrees.
Later in his life, José also became a teacher, and he frequently involves communities that are important to him in his projects. When he presented Chisme at The Parrish Art Museum in New York, a solo show of 15 woodcut figures, he made the front of the sculptures depict vibrant, low-wage immigrant workers and the raw back was covered in drawings of plants, trees and seeds made by the immigrants themselves.
These pivotal moments of finding connection with others while doing something that everyone is passionate about and being nonjudgmental is the definition of finding your perfect tribe.
Whether that is a running group, a church, a book club, a professional association or a support circle, the social aspect and connection with others is vital to build resilience and find encouragement. These are the spaces where we can lean on others; where we can be honest about our difficulties and thrive.
Find Purpose
Juntos, 2023, oil and acrylic on canvas. This is one of the 14 brand new paintings that Studio Lenca made for Alquimia, the show I curated at Finca Cortesin Gallery.
Viktor Frankl, who survived being a prisoner of Auschwitz, wrote in his 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning that “In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” While José’s journey could have turned his life into an irreparable mess, the many challenges he encountered were turned into meaning and that is his superpower.
For many, finding purpose sounds like an insurmountable task. Or they equate “purpose and meaning” with discovering the cure to cancer or moving to Africa to eradicate malaria. It’s a whole lot simpler than that. Having a good job and doing it with excellence is indeed part of finding and executing our purpose.
It turns out that telling your story and more precisely, the story of how you overcame your challenges, can give your life the purpose you have been looking for. “We all have the ability to make a narrative out of our own lives,” says Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of Meaning. “It gives us clarity on our own lives, how to understand ourselves, and gives us a framework that goes beyond the day-to-day and basically helps us make sense of our experiences.”
José’s paintings and sculptures tell his story and that of so many immigrants that have the desire to start over in a better place: the figures are dressed in happy colors always sporting hats and claiming space and attention. They must be seen. They are either running or staring back at you with confidence. There’s nothing to hide.
We decided to name our show “Alquimia" (or "Alchemy" in English), a word that comes from the Arabic Alkimia. The al- is the Arabic definite article, "the" and kimya meant the search for the philosopher's stone or the elixir of life. Like this alchemical transmutation, the figures represented in José's work are thriving in a difficult situation, trying to make something out of nothing. Much in the same way that he has conducted his life and artistic practice.
Emerging victorious from a precarious situation has been José’s alchemical superpower, which is imbued in his work. Hope, resilience, and joy are present for all of us to reflect upon and transcend.
JUMPSTART: IGNITE YOUR CREATIVITY FOR PROFIT, INNOVATION, AND REINVENTION
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HOW CREATIVITY RULES THE WORLD
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TEDX TALK
Have you already watched my TEDx Talk: “NFTs, Graffiti and Sedition: How Artists Invent The Future”?
I share three lessons I have learned from artists that always work for anyone in their careers. Watch it here.